Heavenly Interventions
by Masaka1
Summary: One blustery Autumn night Yugi runs across something that will change his life forever! If you thought his life before this was bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet. MAIN COUPLES! YYxY and BxR WARNING: dark suspense and mortal peril! Also loads of fluff
1. Rewrite chapter One

**Masaka: **Once again I am on a rampage of editing so that Heavenly Interventions turns out to be the best fanfiction story it can possibly be!

**Yami Masaka: **As my aibout has gotten older she has realized some psychological motives work better than others for certain characters. Thus all the characters are new again!

**Jason: **Plus Masaka still feels a little sacrilegious for how very insanely human Nizuki and Nero are ***gets whacked by blushing Masaka***

**Masaka: **But all my older readers out there will get a treat too as this updated version SHOULD be more humorous than the last thus why I am reintroducing it under the title HEAVENLY INTERVETIONS UPDATED

**CHAPTER ONE: How Did Things Get Like This**

_Oh beautiful creations of God, stewards of the stars, guardians of man. What would we do without you? You creatures of greater perfection than we, please help us! Bring down your Master's grace to us who suffer in the dust._

_Please send me an angel to grant my wish come true._

Up in Heaven a little angel sat looking over the lip of the clouds down at the Earth below.

Never before had this little cherub looking so intently at what should have been his future arena of protection as he did now.

With a deep sigh the little one took off his golden circlet (his mark of an angel student) and leaned forward.

Tonight was a good night, he figured, to fall.

**SCENECHANGE**

Down on a different plane of existence a young man named Yugi was also looking at the clouds. It was a beautiful September afternoon. The August weather hadn't yet abated making it warm and balmy outside, while still having the faint chill of autumn flavoring the wind.

It was one of those kinds of days where everyone, regardless of age or class, felt the pull from deep inside calling them back to Nature…

Well…at least the weather was attempting to call people out to admire nature. It had called Yugi's other-half, the recently reincarnated pharaoh now known simply as Yami, and Yami's recently decided girlfriend Anzu out to Domino Park. They'd been coy about it but somehow Yugi seriously doubted that the couple was flower-gazing.

If Yugi had to put money on it he'd guess that the duo were probably just rutting in the bushes somewhere like they'd been doing every other day since they'd begun going out…leaving Yugi to tend to his grandfather's shop alone.

Yugi looked longingly at the door, wishing he could just give in to his own desire and go outside. He didn't want to be trapped in his grandfather's game-shop playing his one-hundredth game of 'name that dust-bunny'.

Sadly, as was often the fate of such good-natured folk, Yugi felt too responsible for his grandfather's store to even dream of leaving.

"Ah well," Yugi sighed and went over to the door flipping the sign to close, "I might as well get some cleaning done."

Yugi took the broom out of the closet and started to sweep up the floor. After that he cleaned off the counters and polished the glass cases.

Though no one would guess it from the chaotic state of his own bedroom, Yugi actually liked cleaning. The physical labor kept his hands busy so that he wouldn't have to think about how lonely he'd been lately.

Though Yami and Anzu had the excuse of being publically indecent, Yugi was still reeling from the sudden reduction of friends in his day-to-day life.

Joey was actually trying to get decent grades as well as working twenty odd jobs to maintain his rather odd-living arrangement of extended visits to Okoyami Prefecture where his sister was and living in 'the apartment' where his drunk father dwelled.

Honda had finally managed to get the motorcycle he'd always wanted but to get his parents to allow him to keep it he was being forced to spend most of his time 'helping the family' or studying.

Otogi had his own Game shop to attend, Mia had a new fashion designer job in Paris to keep her busy, Seto would never leave his company long enough to ever 'hang out' with anyone and Mokuba had his super elite middle-school to contend with.

Ryou had been a good source of companionship for a while but because he had a criminal-mastermind to look after Ryou never really seemed to have the time to hang out in the way that Yugi would have liked.

Everyone was so busy and scattered that…that Yugi was sometimes worried that things were just as bad as before he'd solved the Millennium Puzzle.

As if to punctuate Yugi's gloomy thoughts an enormous roar of thunder suddenly cracked overhead drawing Yugi's eyes to the store-front windows and the rampaging storm outside.

"Wow," Yugi blinked, "that storm blew up real quick there was barley a cloud in the sky before."

Another fork of lightning streaked through the air, and just as the light was fading from the sky an enormous 'thump' echoed through the house. It sounded as if something extremely large had fallen upstairs.

"ACK!W-what the heck?" Yugi jolted at the noise. His recent thought of being so alone made the sound a little bit more ominous than it probably would've been any other time.

Yugi stayed still for a moment holding his breath, hoping it had just been a tree limb falling onto the roof but then the faint sound of whimpering managed to reach his ears above the sounds of the storm.

"O-oh great t-there really is someone is the house," Yugi laughed with bitter hysteria.

Still Yugi girded himself with the thought that he'd faced plenty of dangerous things and he crept towards the foot of the stairs.

"H-Hello?" he called, his bravery not going as far as he'd hoped.

"What are you looking at aibou?" a familiar voice asked from behind him.

Yugi yelped and spun around to see his sopping wet Yami standing in the hallway looking up at him with a kind, if not curious, smile.

"I-I thought I heard something from upstairs," Yugi muttered, blushing at how childish he sounded.

Yami looked confused, "what sort of noise did you hear?"

"A kind of sob and a thump," Yugi said.

Yami titled his head so his ear was pointed towards the stairs. He waited a moment then looked back at Yugi.

"I don't hear anything."

"Must have just been the storm," Yugi said shakily. He then cleared his throat and plastered on a false smile, "s-so did you have fun with Anzu?"

Yami's face split into an absolutely stunning grin and, not for the first time, Yugi felt his heart pinch.

"Yes, before this Set-sent storm came and washed us out, Anzu and I had a glorious time. Thank you for covering my share of the store-tending so that I could go out."

Yugi forced himself to smile and suck back his own thoughts regarding how he felt about covering _much _more than just a few of Yami's chores these days. Painfully, the man who had once resided in Yugi's soul didn't even notice and with a gentle ruffling of Yugi's hair the pharaoh went off to take a shower.

Yugi watched him go then turned his thoughts to the now absent whimpering.

"Well…whatever that was…is seems to have gotten over its troubles," Yugi surmised. As he walked off to make dinner Yugi tried not dwell over the rest of that thought; "at least someone has."

_SCENECHANGE_

Later that night Yugi was having a great deal of trouble relaxing.

Yugi squirmed around in his bed trying to fall asleep but it all seemed for naught. No matter how he tried he couldn't get comfortable.

"Err!" Yugi growled in annoyance from under his comforter. Despite contorting into any number of sleeping position he just couldn't see to find that one spot that would allow him to fall asleep.

Taking care to make sure he didn't twinge anything as he uncurled from his latest contortion, Yugi sat up and stared agitatedly at his pillow for a few minutes. Just when he'd about come up with a new position to try that would've probably made a yoga-master wince; a little whimper flittered down to his ears. It was so soft that at first Yugi thought it was just his imagination but then it came again. It was a definite whimper and a flutter.

/Yami?/ Yugi mentally whispered not wanting to creep to the other male's room in the unfriendly dark if there really was something out there.

The sleeping pharaoh didn't reply. Again a whimper drifted through the air.

Against his better judgment Yugi slid out from under his blankets, straining to hear the sound again. Because the sound seeming to be coming from above him Yugi gently stepped out of bed, stopping only to put on his slippers and grab his robe. He then gently tiptoed to his bedroom door and eased it open.

The hallway seemed impossibly long and dark at night making Yugi very tempted to go back to bed but some instinct deep inside was telling him to go forward and to find the owner of that scared, timid little voice.

Yugi had learned long ago to trust that instinct.

That sad little sound lead Yugi all the way up to the attic door whereupon the sound gave way to an equally woeful voice.

"H-hurt," the whimpering voice muttered, "i-it hurts. P-Please someone…I-I don't want to h-hurt like this a-anymore."

That plea tugged on Yugi's heartstrings a little more effectively than perhaps it should have. Though he had no idea who this stranger was, Yugi couldn't help but feel a strong desire to help.

"Hello?" Yugi whispered welcomingly. The voice let out a little surprised squeak and fell silent.

The Game Shop attic was very rarely used. It held mostly holiday decorations, a few photo albums, and old camping gear. But mostly the attic was the storage place for all of Grandpa Solomon's relics and antiques. Yugi himself had only gone up there one or two times, one of the times being when he found the millennium puzzle. The only access besides the door where Yugi stood was a small slated window that looked out onto the old oak tree outside.

It was possible for someone to climb that tree and enter the attic unannounced but Yugi had a hard time imaging anyone actually doing it.

Still, Yugi figured, if there really was a wounded person in there then it was Yugi's responsibility as a decent human-being to reach out his aide. Besides, only a scared kid who had no other place to go would linger in someone's attic and worry about being caught by the house-owner.

Taking a deep breath to steady the nerves that were trying to argue a less harmless image for the intruder, Yugi opened the attic door and stepped inside.

Yugi's hand groped along the wall until his fingers found the light switch. He quickly flicked it on. As he did so the intruder's voice gasped from across the room and the sound of shuffling feet was heard.

"Hello," Yugi said again as gently as possible, "hello is anyone here."

There were a few moments of silence then a near unheard 'yes'.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Yugi promised, "I own the Game Shop…sort of… I just want to know who you are. Can you please come out?"

"No, no j-just leave me alone, g-go away leave me alone!" The voice yelled in a purely terrified voice.

But Yugi only wanted a reply, not an answer; he was going to find out where that soft almost musical voice came from even if it killed him.

Yugi gently made his way in the direction of the voice, trying not to stumble over the many items scattered around the room. Yet it was too crowed to avoid them all and only inches from the voice's origin he ended up tripped over a large globe and falling face-first onto the dusty oak floorboards.

"YIKES!" The musical voice chimed in fear, "I-I thought I-I told you not to come any closer!"

Yugi shook his head trying to negotiate his brain back into its original setting. Hitting the floor so hard had really given him a head-rush.

"J-just go away I-I'm warning you!" the voice yelled again. Yugi didn't pay the warning any mind. He got back to his feet and started moving boxes aside. This seemed to send the voice owner into hysterics.

"NO! NO! GO AWAY LEAVE ME ALONE STOP IT GO AWAY!" it yelped.

Yugi pulled the last box away and finally saw the stranger. His eyes widened and he gasped; "Oh..wow..I MUST have hit my head harder than I thought."

Sitting there coated in a thin layer of gray dust was the most extraordinary creature Yugi had ever seen.

**SCENECHANGE**

For the most part it looked like a ten, eleven or maybe even twelve-year- old boy.

However, there was no way the creature sprawled on Yugi's attic floor could actually be a human boy. Though it had gorgeous ringlets of hazel brown hair like a human boy might, and gold-flaked green eyes like a human might have there was no way it could be human.

For one thing the being's skin seemed to be like a peach-tinted shawl set over a brilliantly burning lamp. The glow wasn't bright enough that it hurt to look at but it certainly went further than your typical 'inner-glow'.

And the other reason Yugi doubted this creature was a human boy was that the being's shoulders were decorated with enormous wings. They appeared to be as thin as a spider's web and yet they had enough substance that one of these wings had been snapped near the arch so that silver-speckled blood was pouring down the feathers into a pool under the creature's body.

"Oh gees," Yugi breathed in shock. He wanted to say more but somehow couldn't quite find the words.

The winged-boy flinched like Yugi's words had actually struck him but he did not look away as Yugi crawled closer and gently felt out the depth of the winged-boy's injury with his fingertips.

"Does it hurt much?" Yugi asked. The creature blinked up at Yugi in shock.

"Does it hurt much?" Yugi repeated. The being nodded his head.

"Stay right here OK," Yugi said gently. Green eyes looked tearfully up at him.

"O-Okay," it mumbled quietly.

Yugi stood up and quickly ran back down stairs to the restroom and pulled out a first-aid kit before returning to the attic, all while internally thanking whoever was listening that he had taken a course in animal first aide during the summer.

When he got the supplies and returned to the attic the angel -or the boy that really looked the part- was trying to stand.

"DON'T!" Yugi yelled. The boy let out a little yelp and fell to the floor with a 'THUMP.'

Yugi ran over to its' side but the boy quickly scooted away from him.

"D-don't hurt me I-I didn't mean to anger y-you," the angel quivered.

"You didn't anger me," Yugi sighed gently, "I was just trying to warn you not to do that, you might hurt yourself more."

"R-really?" the angel quivered in disbelief.

Yugi wasn't sure what to make of that statement. If this boy really was an angel then maybe the raw physicality of his body was confusing him. Not that Yugi was an expert of spiritual beings but he had seen certain shadow monsters that had started off as mere vapors and once they gained a body they seemed unable to understand and cope with the stresses of it.

"Yes really, your injury is very severe and if I don't treat it the damage could become even worse. So I need you to turn around as gently as you can so I can reach the damage and try to fix it, okay?" Yugi gently commanded.

The angel nodded nervously and turned.

'I sure hope I can help him; Bandaging up a sprained wrist or the neighbor's bruised canary is a lot different than wrapping up a heavenly creation,' Yugi thought with slight hysterical humor.

Yugi pulled out a washcloth and after dousing it with a little rubbing alcohol started to dab at the blood.

"YIKE!" the boy yelled before flapping his wings.

"Whoa, whoa settle down," Yugi yelled covering his face with his arms.

The angel continued to flap and more blood came out of the wound as the heavy mass of the sticky feathers pulled the skin around the abrasion splattering more sparkly bllod across the wooden floors and over Yugi's pajamas.

"Calm down!" Yugi yelled again.

He blindly reached out a single hand –the other one was up against his face to guard his eyes- and luckily caught onto the boy's shoulder. The wings slowed down gradually at the touch then stopped all together.

Yugi peeked an eye open to look at his patient.

"That hurt," the boy muttered in reply to Yugi's questioning gaze.

"Well I'm sorry I'll try to be more gentle but you have to stay still or I can't help you, understand," Yugi said, trying hard not to chuckle. The angel sounded so young that he couldn't really think of it as an intangible being of power.

The boy nodded as a slight pink tinge of embarrassment came to his cheeks. Yugi gently placed the cloth back on the boy's tattered wing. The winged-one hissed in pain but didn't move.

"So what's your name?" Yugi asked as he worked on the wound.

"All of my particular class carries the name Gabriel, until we come into our own," the boy replied.

"Your kind?" Yugi asked as he tossed aside the soaked bandage and pulled out another.

"I suppose you call us …angel student…working to become… guardian angels," the boy generally named Gabriel whispered in a tone of deep reverence.

Yugi dropped the new washcloth in shock.

"S-so you're really. . . I wasn't sure at first but I-" Yugi couldn't find the words to express his shock. He just sat still not able to move a single limb.

After a few minutes Gabriel fluttered his unwounded wing to get Yugi's attention.

"Sorry," Yugi said as he resumed his work.

"Notthe problem, you have right to be shocked," Gabriel smiled a gorgeous smile that rivaled the sun in brightness.

Yugi blushed red under such a smile and quickly busied himself with fixing the wing again. He tried to calm himself by focusing on some of the less than awe-inspiring part of the angel, such as the odd way the Gabriel talked. It was as if the angel didn't quite grasp the concept of words and just spoke enough to give a basic meaning.

"So what are you doing here?" he asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.

Gabriel's face fell a little and his green eyes filled with sadness.

"I… I had to run away," he whispered.

Now Yugi was about as religious as a soap-box but before he'd left their company his parents had tried to teach him the basics of Christianity. And one of the most basics of those basics was the idea that you could not outrun a being that was a part of everything.

On the other hand, Yugi was pretty sure that traditional Christian teaching couldn't explain Yami's resurrection or the stubbornly morally ambitious existence of shadow-monsters either.

"I'm a disappointment to my teachers," the Gabriel was talking without prompt now. "I work years and years and years but no can master the skills I need to become even a consciousness angel. All I'm good at is singing but that doesn't help because at the rate I'm going I'll be two-million before I can use that talent."

"Why is that?" Yugi asked blandly as he pulled out a thread and nettle to sew together the torn wing.

"Mm it's kind of complicated to explain," Gabriel mumbled, "singing is a method for channeling our power but…we only get our power when we given our assignment. Our strength comes from Him," the little angel shuddered in awe and even Yugi felt a strange flush. "And our direction also...but I have not gotten any direction…I not gotten passed my schooling…I not once gained assignment in the five hundred years I been in the class."

"FIVE HUNDRED YEARS! No way! You can't be that old I-I mean you look like a-a-a-"

"A kid?" Gabriel smiled again.

"Y-ya," Yugi blushed.

"Angels age very slowly if not ever," Gabriel said. "Student angels are incapable of aging until they are given a protectorate and a name."

"A name?"

"Yes, as I said before student-angels are all called Gabriel by Him," the angel replied.

"And how do you get names?" Yugi asked.

"We get names from protectorates," the Gabriel explained.

"A protectorate?"

"The one who we assigned to look after…though…it is not always that protectorates give specific name either…" the Gabriel said uncomfortably. "I think…it is that the purpose of our looking after them inspires a name. Some angels just called 'my guardian' or 'lucky break' after all."

"Well maybe that has to do with not many people being able to see the angels that look over them?" Yugi laughed.

Unfortunately the Gabriel didn't seem to find anything humorous in that statement at all and it began to cry.

'Stupid!' he yelled at himself, 'don't make it cry it's been through enough already.'

"P-Please don't cry angel, okay? I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to—"

"Humans aren't supposed to just see angels all willy-nilly," the Gabriel sniffled and pulled a handkerchief out of the insanely ornate robes he wore. "I-It bad that I am wandering so…worse because I such a clutz I cannot get home on my own."

"Home?" Yugi blinked then flushed. "Oh! Oh yah you mean…Up There…yah well um…I-I can't really help you there but um…I-I guess I can offer you a place here until…you know…you find someone who can help you…um…get back Upstairs."

"REALLY!" the angel's whole body seemed to glow like a starburst.

Yugi wasted a moment thinking about how nuts all of this was and how Yami would probably bug out. Then he quickly decided that as sole tender to the Kame Game Shop while his grandfather was away it was Yugi's sole right to decide whether the angel could stay.

"As long as you keep quiet,and don't mind staying up here in the attic, you can stay," Yugi laid down the conditions that seemed least likely to cause major trouble for him or the illegally earth-bound angel.

"O-O-O-OH!" the Gabriel's eyes filled with tears again, "THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

The little angel launched himself at Yugi, tackling him to the floorboards. Yugi's face went as red as a cherry.

"Thank you so much!" Gabriel sang, "I'll repay you somehow Mr. Uh…"

Gabriel blinked once thoughtfully then he scooted back a little so he could look at Yugi's face.

"What did you say your name was?" he asked.

"Y-Yugi," Yugi blushed pushing himself up a little with his arms, "Yugi Motou."

"I'LL REPAY YOU SOME HOW YUGI-SAN!" Gabriel said glomping Yugi back to the floor.

"I-It's alright," Yugi blushed.

'Well this has certainly been an interesting evening.'


	2. REWRITE CHAPTER TWO

**CHAPTER TWO: The Reality of the Unreal**

Yugi yawned and opened his eyes. The diffused light of the sun streaming through the attic window illuminated Yugi's dazzling scarlet and gold hair and made Yugi's amethyst glow like jewels.

However, while the lighting may have made Yugi look dazzling it was also very different from the light that came through his bedroom window to wake him up every morning. As a result Yugi could only lie on the floor in a slight daze trying to remember what he was doing in the attic to begin with rather than goad himself into movement.

'Why did I come up here again?' Yugi thought, 'I don't remember coming up here. Did someone put me up here?'

Yugi's mind was hazy and clouded with sleep. He wasn't worried he didn't know why he was in the attic he was just sleepy. So, so, so sleepy.

As yes, sleep was good. A nice sleep would be just what he needed. He had to… go… back… to-

"What's this thing?" a little voice asked. It was followed by a resounding crash.

"YIKE! Bad thingy you bit me!" the voice yelped.

Yugi grumbled and reached for his covers to block out the noise. Only Yugi remembered that the attic floor didn't come with sheets. It was a vague, unhappy thought but it still didn't penetrate the haze of sleepiness in Yugi's mind.

"Uh-oh…thingy is really shiny," the voice mumbled half-to-itself, "I hope Yugi-san didn't like bitey thingy that much."

'Yugi-san?' Yugi pondered, 'where have I heard that before?'

Yugi groaned and tried to snuggle against the soft robe over his shoulders but a sharp, metallic smell stung his nose causing him to go back from blissful sleep to half- asleep.

'What is that smell? Oh ya blood…' Yugi's eyes fell open. 'BLOOD!'

Yugi stared at his robe and saw the dark blackish silver splotches all over it that seemed to glow even brighter than his hair in the slight light of morning.

"What the-"

"Oh yippee Yugi-san is awake!" the voice Yugi had been trying to block out squeaked.

Yugi spun to his left and saw the Gabriel standing there, his wings now seemingly made of threads of sunlight.

"YIKE!" Yugi yelled, lunging away from the little one in abrupt realization "Y-YOU! I-I THOUGHT IT WAS ALL A DREAM B-BUT YOU'RE REALLY HERE!"

The Gabriel blinked in confusion, "why you so surprised?"

Yugi shook his head rapidly back and forth; "no, no, no, no! I must be going NUTS! This can't be real!"

The Gabriel fiddled with the feathers on his injured wing that had been tied tight to his back. He really hoped that Yugi-san wasn't going to be so loud all the time. And he really hoped the human would calm down because all his emotions were so frantic at the moment it was making the feathers on his good wing stand on end.

While the Gabriel continued to puzzle over the oddity of humans Yugi was desperately trying to reason himself out of delirium. But each time he was near calm some part of his brain randomly yelled out 'THERE IS A FREAKING ANGEL STANDING ONLY FREAKING SIX FEET AWAY!' and full panic and confusion returned.

Obviously unwilling to wait anymore for Yugi to calm himself the Gabriel took a step towards the confused teen.

"Yugi? Yugi-san… are you okay?" he asked gently.

"T-this…this can't be real…can it?" Yugi asked.

"Of course I real! Silly Yugi-san, who else you talking to?" the angel giggled.

Yugi groaned miserably and held his aching head in his hands.

"As if my life weren't crazy enough, I had to invite an honest to-" Yugi paused and looked over at the Gabriel. "Uh I have an angel living in my attic now."

"Uh huh…unless…Yugi-san didn't mean what he said about letting me stay?" the Gabriel pouted.

Yugi flushed and pulled the angel into a hug almost despite himself.

"No, no I was honest about that. It's just…well my house is really crazy you see and—"

As if summoned as reference to said weirdness Yami's voice came echoing from downstairs; "Yugi! Yugi, get down here! Aren't you going to eat breakfast…Yugi…Yuuugi! …I'm giving you three seconds before I come up after you!"

"Ack!" Yugi gasped. He and the Gabriel shared a nervous look.

"Yugi-san will not expose Gabriel to the world…right? Is against big, BIG rules," Nero blinked.

"N-No, of course not I mean I …uh…I…I'm…I gotta go, stay hidden," Yugi said nodding in agreement at the same time his mind was trying to come up with some excuse to give to his other for his strange behavior.

"Good…oh! Yugi-san! You are all dirty! You better change before meeting other-half-san!" the Gabriel gasped.

Mentally overburdened as he was Yugi could only nod as he rushed out of the attic and into his room. He heard Yami's heavier foot-steps trudging up the stairs and so with all the speed he could muster Yugi yanked off his clothes and stuffed them in the hamper. He also grabbed the bottle of water resting on his desk and splashed it over his skin to clean off the few remaining splotches of angel blood.

What little Yugi DIDN'T do, however, was lock the door, so five second after undressing Yami burst in.

"Okay aibou what's goi- Oh Ra! Sorry!" Yami yelped.

"YAMI GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Yugi squealed.

"AH! Oh…right! Um…I-I'll…toast you, I mean leave toast for you on the kitchen table and um…g-go on ahead to the bus-stop," Yami said, his regal face dark maroon with embarrassment and his eyes darting around so wildly he looked a little possessed.

"Okay, whatever just get out!" Yugi wailed, holding both hands in front of his…um…no-peek zone.

"Right…okay um…have a good day Yugi," Yami coughed as he whirled around and slammed the bedroom door behind him.

Absolutely mortified Yugi sat down heavily on the edge of his bed and groaned.

"This…is going to be one HELL of a Friday."

**SCENECHANGE**

Yugi walked down the street slowly. Thanks to his little 'adventure' this morning he had missed his bus to school. Luckily he was in no real hurry. He had a million thoughts that were going through his head and he hoped to get through at least a thousand before he had to worry about mundane school-work.

'OK let's think, angel in the attic, got peeped on by Yami,' Yugi face heated at the thought, 'couldn't eat my toast this morning because the smell of the angel's blood was so weirdly sweet it made my stomach lurch…got peeped on by Yami…man, that's just something that I can't ignore. …Oh he'll be thinking about it too…and he'll think about it so much I bet he'll realize that it was weird of me to be changing so late…and he'll probably figure out I was in the attic…but then again, maybe seeing my scrawny body was so distracting that he'll simple IGNORE me for the rest of the day giving me time to come up with an excuse for my weirdo behavior and…'

Yugi was so deep in his thoughts he didn't heard the voice yelling out to him in warning until it was too late. He hit a crosswalk light pole head first with a very loud 'POW'.

Yugi collapsed into a heap on the ground, his brain rattling back in forth in his skull like a bean in a maraca. The pain was still strangely soothing though because it pushed out the tougher thoughts for a moment so Yugi could focus on the sheer agony.

A familiar mop of unevenly cut white hair came running up to him only a second later.

"Yugi, Yugi are you all right?" Ryou asked leaned over his friend.

"Ouch," Yugi muttered pitifully. Ryou put a hand on his chest and sighed.

"Oh good you're OK," he sighed.

"Sort of I guess," Yugi said massaging his head. Ryou laughed.

"No I mean of course you're not all right but at least you're not unconscious so you can't be terribly hurt," Ryou smiled holding out a hand for Yugi.

"Arigato," Yugi sighed grabbing Ryou's arm and heaving himself up.

"Is something wrong Yugi you didn't seem to have heard me earlier," Ryou said looking Yugi over in polite concern.

"I've just have a really weird morning," Yugi said holding his head; he was sure there must have been a watermelon sized lump.

"Oh really?" Ryou asked as they began to walk along again, "what happened."

"Err…" Yugi debated with himself over whether or not to let Ryou in on this, "I think…maybe…okay as long as you promise not to tell anyone… come over and to my house after-school and I'll show you what happened."

Yugi wasn't sure why but he had the strangest feeling that of all the people he knew, Ryou was the only one that he could let in on this secret. It was probably just the head-trauma talking but then again Ryou was also Yugi's partner in hikari responsibilities.

Ryou looked as if he were weighing the worth of helping his friend's mental state against the rest of his afternoon's plans. The white-haired boy then smiled politely and agreed to come.

'I have an angel in my attic, I got peeped on by Yami, and now I've just barely rated as more interesting then library-study by one of my friends…I am really just coming out on top all over today,' Yugi thought sarcastically.

**SCENECHANGE**

Back at the Kame Game Shop the little Gabriel was staring at the attic door mentally weighing consequences.

On the one hand he could go downstairs and see what a real human house was like –something he'd wanted to investigate since before his wings had fully grown—and possibly get Yugi-san so mad at him that he kicked the angel out. Then on the other hand he could stay here and possibly die from complete and utter brain-melting boredom and maybe have Yugi-san come back and kick him out anyway.

'No, no,' Gabriel thought, 'Yugi-san is such a nice human. He would not get mad at me for wandering off to look at his trinkets…I don't think…He didn't seem to get mad when I broke sparkly bitey trinket at least.'

The Gabriel cast a glance back at the fallen and severely shattered falcon statue.

(A/N: of all people I imagine Grandpa Motu would probably have the Maltese Falcon…err…never mind)

With a self-excusing nod Gabriel got up and walked quietly over to the door. He pushed it open a quarter of the way, and looking down the hall. There wasn't a single person in sight.

'Yugi-san told me to stay in attic but,' Gabriel pout frowned, 'if I don't do anything really bad I can break this little command…can't I?'

The idea of a human command, however, broke a sudden memory to the Gabriel's mind, completely distracting him from his to-wander-or-not-to-wander debate.

"Sensai…sensai said something about this type of situation once…"

**-Memory-**

_A towering dark angel named Nakagato stood in front of a group of a fleet of mini-angels orating the basic tactics outline of the Angelic Code of Unflinching Aide when a little chubby hand shot into the air. _

_"Oh what is it NOW?" Nakagato growled. The Guiding Angel was eternally patient but even he had a limit. And honestly his limit was very low. So low he probably shouldn't have been in charge of cherubs._

_"You talked about angels helpin' hoomans but whatabout if a hooman helps an angel?" the little angel asked._

_Nakagato blinked once in surprise then his serious stony expression returned. _

_"Humans have NEVER been good at helping angels but if, by some off chance, a human has somehow helped an angel that angel must grant the human a wish before he is allowed to go back to Heaven."_

_"A wish?" the class asked._

_"Yes, the one supreme wish that we discussed last week…now as I was saying-," Nakagato coughed.  
_  
**-End Memory-**

Gabriel blinked, 'yah now I remember that's right I have to grant Yugi-san a wish. …A…whatsup super wish…"

Gabriel smacked a fist into his palm, 'OK I've decided, I must ignore Yugi-san's rule for the sake of his wish. It's a celestial rule after all, if I don't leave then I can't figure out enough about Yugi-san to do anything.'

Feeling particularly proud of himself for that loophole the currently handicapped Gabriel skipped off down the stairs.

**SCENECHANGE**

Despite the early head-banging incident Yugi and Ryou had managed to walk to school before the bell rang and the terror-inspiring Councilor Harrison locked the gates.

After solidifying plans to go over to the Kame Game Shop after classes let out the boys split up –Ryou had to ask a question to their shared Math teacher before class—.

Yugi walked casually into class, saying hi to his friends who, being as busy as they were, only managed to give half-hearted greetings back.

Yugi sighed a little in disappointment but didn't worry about it too much as he slid into his seat. He didn't really have any right to sigh at their dismissal; however, because without recognizing it Yugi had dismissed the stares his Yami was sending at him in favor of working on some extra vocabulary homework.

'I don't remember Yugi having such trouble waking up in time for school. …Maybe he just had a tough time sleeping last night…I wonder if he's still mad at me for running in on him like that? …I know he's been body-shy ever since the beginning of middle-school but surely he can feel comfortable around me…I mean…can't he?' Yami thought

"OH YAMI-KOI!" A familiar voiced called from behind the spirit distracting the teen from his thoughts.

Yami turned around to see Anzu sprinting over to him.

(**Both Yami Masaka and Masaka: **Hands off Yami! Hands off Yami! Hands off Yaaaami!)

"Ohayo gozaimasu Anzu-chan," Yami smiled. Anzu slipped an arm around one of Yami's and shook her pointer finger in front of his face.

"Now, now, now Yami-koi, I thought we agreed to address each other koi from now on," she giggled.

"Oh sorry Anzu-chan…err Anzu-koi," Yami said, he grimaced in dislike. The ex-pharaoh had such a hard time with honorifics in the first place that every time someone corrected him Yami's temper flared.

That's why to all his friends he was just 'Yami' and they were just 'his friends.'

Anzu giggled again obviously missing the anger spike altogether.

"Oh Yami-koi you're so cute when your ears get all pink like that," Anzu smiled happily.

"Uh Anzu…-koi, have you talked to Yugi yet this morning?" Yami asked.

Anzu's happy, loving face collapsed momentarily into a scowl then back to her happy face.

"No darling I haven't...why?"

"Well," Yami blushed, "you see we had this little err…mishap this morning, and he hasn't said good morning to me and I wonder if…if maybe he's upset with me more than I previously thought."

"Oh Yami-koi, my dearest, you worry too much about him," Anzu said kissing Yami's cheek, "If Yugi was unhappy, you'd know."

"Well maybe but-" Yami was cut off by Anzu's lips covering his own.

(**Masaka:** EEK! I DID NOT WRITE THAT!)

Yami's eyes widened but he sunk into the kiss quickly. After a few breath- less lip-locked moments Anzu pulled away a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Hey Yami-koi, why don't we skip first period and go to this cute little café I found earlier? We can have some more time alone," Anzu winked drawing circles in Yami's sleeve with her fingertip, "just the two of us."

Yami raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend, "You want to ditch? Anzu that isn't like you."

"The teacher won't mind, she won't even notice, she only there half the time away, come on Yami-koi," Anzu said pulling Yami away.

"As you wish," Yami sighed in defeat.

Yugi just finished his final kanji practice and looked up to offer Yami help with his…when he noticed that neither the dark-skinned boy or his very pale-skinned girlfriend were in their seats.

'Anzu probably convinced Yami to ditch with her again,' Yugi thought. For some reason that thought send a cold shaft of pain through his heart.

'Why do I always feel this way when I think about them together?' Yugi grimaced in annoyance as he massaged the base of his palm against the pain.

A sudden voice intruded on Yugi's thoughts.

:/YIPPEE! I made it work/

/W-what? Gabriel?/ Yugi nearly tumbled out of his chair in shock. His mind had already been adjusted to the idea of mental communications when Yami had moved into Cerebral Labyrinth but even so Yugi found the angel's interference disconcerting.

:/Huh, who said that?/:

/Gabriel how did you get in my thoughts?/ Yugi asked while simultaneously making sure the deeper chambers of his soul-room were locked tight.

:/Oh, Yugi-sama it's you! Sorry, sorry I guess this whole contract thingy works a lot faster than I thought. See I gotsa a …a 'mental-connection' with you cuz you're my new master!/:

/W-WHAT!/ Yugi blanched and nearly slipping out of his seat again.

:/ Not like teacher, no worries. I gonna be your angel and grant you a wish! I gotta! It's a celestial rule! Angel Code requirement …thingy, charter 20-somethin'… section 500… I think/:

/But/ Yugi said shaking his head /but why? I mean, not that I'm not flattered but…why do you have to grant me a wish? What did I do?/

:/ You saved me, Yugi-sama!/: the Gabriel's mental voice came back in an almost chirp- tone. :/You offered me, an angel, the best aide you could and made me welcome in your house./:

/I-I …well…yah…b-but it not that big of a deal/ Yugi said humbly, his cheeks pink.

:/BLUSHING, BLUSHING YUGI-SAMA IS BLUSHING!/: the Gabriel sang happily before breaking into wind-chime like laughter.

/S-so what kind of wish do I get?/ Yugi said, his face still pink.

:/Uh…I-I think Nakagato-sensai, put it like this uh 'you must grant a wish they cannot see therefore cannot ask for'/:

/What does that mean?/ Yugi asked.

:/Not sure/: the Gabriel mentally smiled back

/So…um…I got the impression that you were celebrating something OTHER than getting into my head…what did you get to work?/ Yugi decided to avoid questioning the intricacies of heavenly working and diverted the increasingly odd mental conversation.

The Gabriel didn't seem to mind as he sent a little glimmer of glee down the link towards Yugi and began to explain. :/Is called a…_S-Soooony Enter...Entertainment System_…According to booklet Yugi-sama had in his cabinet it runs things called…_dvds_…err…that's motion-picture stories, right? Right okay well this dvd is really weird these two people all twitchy together and moaning and-/:

Yugi's face went chalk white as he remembered something.

/Was the title of that dvd…V-Video Girls?/

:/Uh…yep!/:

'GAK! I haven't hung out with him in a month and yet Joey and his stupid movies STILL get me in trouble!' Yugi thought in a more private corner of his brain.

/Uhhhh Gabriel-/

:/Heh-heh she's showing off her boobies/: Gabriel snickered with child-like humor.

"GAK GABRIEL, TURN THAT OFF!" Yugi yelped, jumping up from his seat.

The classroom went dead silent and all eyes turned to the tri-colored haired boy.

Yugi's face went up in the most spectacular color of red and he smiled nervously and gave an apologetic bow before sinking way down in his chair.

/Gabriel, I think you should turn that movie off./

:/What are they doing Yugi-sama, do you know?/:

/Uh yes I do but I don't think we'll discuss that just now,/ Yugi laughed, 'or ever.'

:/Oh Okay Yugi-sama/: Gabriel said.

/Hey I just noticed…why did you go from Yugi-san to Yugi-sama anyway?/ Yugi repeated.

:/Like I say you are like my master cuz I can't go back to Heaven without giving you your wish./:

/Ah yes…that…Wait so… so does that mean I could name you?/ Yugi asked remembering what the angel had said earlier about only protectorate being able to name angels.

:/OH WOULD YOU?/: the Gabriel squealed in delight.

/If you'd like, you might not like the name I'll come up with/ Yugi said bashfully. He wasn't that creative at names or anything else; at least he didn't think so.

:/I'D LOVE IT! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!/: the Gabriel sang; back at the Game Shop the little angel was flittering around with only one wing out of pure joy.

/All right then um…well cutie-pie would just be degrading and angel is ridiculously uncreative…how about…how about Nero?/ Yugi offered.

:/Ooh what's that mean?/:

/Um it's a Latin name but well…I dunno I just think it sounds good but well…I mean if you think it sounds stupid then-/ Yugi said.

:/I LOVE THAT NAME! THANK YOU YUGI-SAMA!/: The newly named Nero sang out with joy.

/I-I'm glad you like the name/ Yugi blushed. He didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but he was really starting to grow fond of the strange little angel.

Suddenly a paper airplane glided across the room and bopped Yugi right in the left temple.

"Itai!" Yugi said rubbing where the paper tip had poked his skin. It didn't really hurt but it wasn't an all-together pleasant experience to nearly get a paper tip gabbed into your eye.

Yugi unfolded the plane and read the message there

_**Hey Yug what were ya yelling about?**_  
**-Joey**

Yugi turned around and looked to the back of the room where Joey sat. The blonde looked questioningly back at him.

_**It's nothing just something I thought I heard and I yelled it out without realizing it. P.S. You left one of your movies at my house**_  
**-Yugi**

Yugi crinkled the paper into a ball and threw it back towards Joey. Joey reached up to catch it but another hand got it first.

"You shouldn't be passing notes in class, _inu_, " Seto smirked. Joey's face flushed and he growled and stood up.

"Give that here Kaiba!" the blonde held out a hand for it.

Seto smirked and trailed his eyes up Joey's body as if he were taking in every tense muscle. When Joey shuddered the smirk dropped off Seto's mouth and was replaced by a sneer.

"You want this puppy? Then fetch."

With that the CEO of KaibaCorp tossed the paper wad out of the door and continued onto his seat with a very smug grin.

Joey growled some very unbecoming things under his breath and glared darkly at the millionaire before turning on his heel and going after the wad.

("Teasing is just another way to say I love you!" quote from 'Wish' by Clamp, Ruri and Hari RULE!)

**Masaka:** ha-cha people we're back! This is the last update from the beginning chapters! Enjoy with mucho gusto!

**Yami Masaka**: Review as well.


	3. REWRITE CHAPTER THREE

**CHAPTER THREE: Heavenly Leather**

The blonde was nearly out the door when a portly old man in a very smart brown business suit stepped into the doorway. Joey took one look at him and dashed back to his seat.

Nobody messed with this guy. He was Councilor Harrison, the only councilor whose students went from unruly to scared straight within a week.

The man glared at the class with dangerously sharp brown eyes that were nearly hidden behind frown wrinkles.

"I see your teacher isn't here yet," he muttered.

"No sir," the whole class replied in unison.

"Well when she gets here tell her I have two delinquents," Mr. Harrison said yanking forth two teens by their ears, "that she needs to deal with."

"Yes sir," the class chimed again.

It was only then that Yugi noticed one of the 'delinquents' was Yami and the other was Anzu.

/YAMI! What on earth!/

/It's all right Yugi, I didn't blow up another of the facility cars/ Yami sighed, catching the mental path his aibou was following

/What did you do then?/ Yugi asked hesitantly. The boy knew too well what kind of damage an ex-spirit could do…and he wasn't in any mood for eating instant ramen for a month after spending their entire food budget on Yami out of trouble… again.

/Oh it's nothing that serious. Anzu and I got caught at a café…a café that Mr. Harrison also apparently likes. /

/Oh boy!/ Yugi sighed, feeling a little bad that he wasn't more upset for the other's sake.

/Yah well now you know… see you later Yugi/ Yami sent a weak smile at his aibou before being dragged away.

:/OOOH! Who was that?/: Nero's voice suddenly reappeared.

/Could you hear him too?/ Yugi asked. He didn't even try to understand how Nero could be on a different connection than the one he shared with Yami. He just hoped that the combination of the two mental-connections wouldn't cause him to grow a brain tumor.

:/Nope but I saw him through your eyes, he looks just like you…only if you were scary./:

/YAMI ISN'T SCARY!/ Yugi unintentionally but automatically yelled back at the angel /He's confident, and cool and kind, maybe …okay maybe he's a little intimidating but he's also really honorable and fair and…he isn't scary!/

:/Mm if you say so Yugi-sama. Who is he?/:

Yugi flushed at his behavior and sent an apologetic emotional nudge back towards the angel before he answered. /I thought I told you about him…but…I guess not. Well, he's my dark-half Yami 'Atem' Motuh./ Yugi said.

:/OH! You mean from Millennium Puzzle?/:

/HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?/ Yugi yelped.

:/Millennium Items was a big controversy in Heaven cuz ...ooh! What's this thing do?/: Suddenly the link was cut off as Nero's attentions went off to another of Yugi's appliances.

Yugi didn't have the heart to interrupt his fun.

**SCENECHANGE**

The angel smiled and put aside the toaster. Despite knowing less about modern technology than the millennium spirits on their return to the modern-age Nero had somehow, amazingly, not burnt or broke it.

Human gadgets were always interesting to Nero though, so he always took great pains to treat everything with great care…Well…everything that wasn't super shiny with a nasty beak that snapped at your fingers.

Thoroughly satisfied that he'd figured out the meaning of the toaster Nero sat it back on the counter and sighed.

"What should I do? I so bored."

Nero was very easily entertained but he had already messed with all the things with pretty buttons and everything shiny in the kitchen and he had even looked around in the trash-can.

On a whim of curiosity Nero turned about-face and headed back upstairs to investigate what he could from there. He looked critically over all the family-pictures on the walls then came to stand right outside Yugi's bedroom door.

"Hmmm what does a human put in a room for sleep? A bed but what else?" Nero wondered. He titled his head curiously to one side then turned the knob and poked his head inside.

"SILVER CLOUDS!" Nero exclaimed. This room was MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more interesting than the other rooms.

"This room is REALLY pretty!" Nero laughed happily as he skipped into the room.

He looked around with fascinated eyes. The room was mostly blue with a slanted ceiling and well-placed skylight that filled the room with brilliant afternoon sunshine. The indented shelves took up the far wall and a closet stood at the same wall as the door but the architecture wasn't what made Nero squeal.

It was the particulars of the room that the angel found awe-inspiring, like the toy-chest at the foot of the bed and the desk spilling over with books and magazines and papers galore.

"This room is really, really, REALLY pretty!" Nero nearly sang.

The angel didn't waste another moment standing around. He looked at everything that had color. He pulled out toys from the toy-chest like a pirate uncovering treasure. Some of them were cute and soft, perfect for hugging, some had sharp pointy pieces that hurt it you held them too tight and some of them, ones shaped like little guys in green and gray splotches, held these little black stick things that made Nero shiver for some reason.

(A/N: Angels think toy-guns are a big no-no)

After looking and playing with all the toys Nero skipped over to the desk. He looked over all the pictures in the magazines and the illustrations in the books before coming across a REAL treasure made up of a super-range crayon box and a stack of paper.

Yugi had doodled a few very wobbly pictures of his friends and monsters on the first few pages and Nero could see the abandoned attempt to draw a woman with maroon-hair like Yugi-sama's own hair. Nero gently traced the edges of the squiggly, unfinished figure then put the papers back on the desk and returned to the toy-chest.

Nero rummaged around inside of it until he came across little orbs that looked like Heaven's galaxy-orbs. Nero squealed in delight and started to set up for a game of 'beyond the axis of space/time' (A/N: a rather metaphysical variation of marbles). Before Nero could formally arranged the game-circle and begin his pantomime of the expanding space theory, the bottom of the marbles' bag ripped open and the orbs went scattering everywhere.

Nero scrambled after them, following a particular fast moving shooter into the closet. Nero's triumph over capturing the marble was then immediately forgotten in a gleeful haze of fashion admiration.

"Human clothes are really, really pretty!" Nero giggled. He rubbed his cheek on the soft material of a cream-colored pair of leather pants.

He pushed the closet door open a little wider to see what other clothes were in there when a flicker of light made him yelp as his eyes nearly went blind.

Rubbing the red-spot out of his retinas the little angel titled the door a little and - still holding the 'pretty' pants—noticed the mirror hanging on the inside of Yugi's closet for the first time.

Now in heaven there are no mirrors; there had never been a need. Souls don't need to see themselves to know what they looked like back on earth –some of them would rather not see themselves anyhow-, and angels were too busy with more important matters to care what they looked like. So when Nero saw his reflection for the first time it was a bit of a surprise. Just like a little new-born kitten he walked over to the mirror and tried to touch the boy there.

"What is…" Nero then smiled and laughed, "oh it's me, hello!" he waved at himself enjoying seeing the image copy his movements.

He then noticed his appearance. His once immaculately white robes were gray with dust and there were large tears and rips in it. The cuffs that had once been ringed with small golden jewels were now gone leaving stringy fringes behind.

Nero looked at his hair noticing the straight golden locks and the brown curls were matted with sweat, crusty blood and more dust. His face was also gray and there was a single pink scratch on the tip of his nose and skid like pink marks on his cheekbones.

"Oh," Nero said softly, "I look…so real. Poor me, I not cut out for this body-owning stuff, am I?

The little angel scratched his chin in thought for a moment then snapped his fingers triumphantly and closed his eyes. He held his hands straight out in front of him, palms to heaven and stretched out his uninjured wing. The feathers stretched apart started glowing like a star.

The little angel's wings send streams of glimmering gold light flooding to all corners of the room like a torrent of gold dust. Nero began to chant under his breath, his voice becoming steadily more musical until the words had changed into musical tones. The torrent of gold spiraled around Nero for a moment then fled back into Nero's wing and Nero's wing folded back behind Nero's back.

Nero sighed -a little tired from the effort of performing his first guardian song- then opened his eyes and looked in his reflection. The cut had disappeared and his face was now perfectly peach again. His hair was now mess-free and Nero had not a speck of dust on him.

"Better now, me?" Nero asked his reflection with a giggle.

Nero frowned at the reflection of his clothes again then at Yugi's white leather pants.

"Hmmm…" Nero smiled then giggled.  
**  
SCENECHANGE  
**  
Yugi sighed in complete and utter mind-numbing boredom. His homeroom teacher had shown up half an hour late. Then she'd apologized saying she'd been out all night and would have to group everyone up for kanji review. Then in next class the teacher ran out of the room sick leaving the students to mingle until a substitute came in with worksheets. After that his gym-class had been cancelled because a pipe in the locker-room busted meaning MORE worksheets.

If Yugi had to go through one more class like this he'd scream.

/Something wrong, aibou?/ Yami asked from his desk.

The teacher had come to Mr. Harrison's office and got him off the hook. Anzu, on the other,hand had missed too many classes to attend dance auditions and the teacher had not let her off.

/Huh?/ Yugi asked looking sleepily over at his yami.

'He looks so cute like that.' Yami thought subconsciously.

/Oh uh nothing 's wrong, Yami/

/Bored?/ Yami asked.

/OUT OF MY MIND!/ Yugi mentally whined. Yami chuckled.

/Well it's the last class before the weekend. How about you and I do something afterwards?/

/R-really!/ Yugi mentally asked

/Sure we can…oh shit wait, I have a date with Anzu.../ Yami snapped his fingers.

/Some other time then/ Yugi sighed, trying to not let it get to him. He was becoming the master of the brush-off.

Before Yami could respond the bell screamed out it obnoxiously loud final call freeing the students from drudgery… and causing a dozing Joey to tumble off his desk right under Kaiba's feet.

Oops, looked like another fight.

Knowing that getting between a Kaiba/Joey fight would only cause trouble Yugi turned from the chaos and started to pack up his stuff when someone came over, casting a shadow over Yugi and instantly getting his attention.

"Are you ready Yugi?" Ryou asked. Yugi looked back at him slightly puzzled.

Ryou laughed at the expression, "You wanted to show me something after school, didn't you? "

"OH! Right Ryou, sorry," Yugi blushed.

Ryou just waved a hand dismissing the apology, "it's alright Yugi, it's hard to remember anything after a day like today."

"Defiantly," Yugi laughed.

Yugi finished packing his bag and the two hikaris headed out of school.

Yami finished packing his bag as well and was lifting his head to see how far Yugi was already but he ran into something soft and squishy on the way.

"Oh naughty-naughty Yami, bopping a girl's boobs," Anzu laughed.

Immediately Yami's face went up in red; he was a mostly properly modest ex-pharaoh after all.

"O-Oh uh sorry Anzu…koi."

Anzu giggled flirtatiously and took a step closer to Yami batting her eyelashes at him.

"So you ready to go to the movie this afternoon?" she asked.

Frankly Yami wasn't but he knew he'd promised; "u-uh y-ya I-I just h-have to…just have to drop his stuff off at the Game Shop."

"And I have to get dressed up so meet me at 5:30 outside the Cineplex," Anzu gave Yami a quick kiss on the cheek then ran off.

"At 5:30? I'm not going to take THAT long," Yami blinked. The ex-pharaoh then noticed Anzu's absence and shrugged.

Behind him Kaiba won triumphantly against Joey in their 226th petty squabble.

**SCENECHANGE**

After a long a dreary bus-ride Ryou and Yugi managed to make it to the right street without too much trouble.

"So what's this thing you told me about?" Ryou asked his short companion.

"Something that will blow your mind; that's all I can tell you without sounding nuts," Yugi laughed.

Ryou shrugged and the two boys reached the Kame Game Shop door. Yugi unlocked the back-door and slipped off his shoes with Ryou right behind him.

"Your grandfather is still in Egypt then?" Ryou asked.

"Yep, he's in charge of a dig at the old Temple of The Ancient Door. And you know how careful he has to be around a place like that…I think he likes the danger though, probably makes it more exciting for him," Yugi nodded, "HEY NERO!"

Ryou looked at Yugi questioningly. Yugi just smiled weakly back at him.

"OH! COMING-COMING YUGI-SAMA!" Nero's musical voice answered back Yugi's call.

From upstairs came the sound of pounding feet and then Nero came into view with his one unwounded wing flowing behind him like a graceful shawl.

But that's not what caught Ryou or even Yugi's attention as much as the outfit the angel was wearing. The little angel had taken off his heavenly robes and slipped on Yugi's cream-colored leather pants which now hung tight to Nero's every curve and accented his pale glowing skin. Also Nero had somehow managed to get the shirt off so there were only the bandages for Nero's wing on his chest.

'Well he certainly doesn't look twelve-years-old dressed like THAT,' some perverted corner of Yugi's mind cackled.

"Oh lord," Ryou seemed to react the same as his nose suddenly began to bleed.

Nero seemed oblivious to his new master's shock and he laughed happily as he glided down the stairs to Yugi's side, spinning around him twice before hugged him.

"Welcome home Yugi-sama," Nero smiled and nuzzled Yugi's neck.

"H-h-hey Nero, w-where'd you g-get that uh n-new outfit?" Yugi stammered, too shocked to really react against the cuddling.

"Oh!" Nero floated a few steps away from Yugi. "Uh well I thought this was so pretty I just had to try it on," Nero frowned, "but at first it didn't fit so I had to take of my boxers-"

"OH LORD!" Ryou yelled gripping his nose so hard the cartilage could have cracked.

Nero blinked then turned to look at Ryou, "who are you?" he asked.

"F-friend of Y-Y-Yugi's," Ryou mumbled.

"Friend of Yugi is friend of mine!" Nero smiled before hugging the silver- haired youth.

Ryou gulped several times trying to calm himself down, and not blushed empathetically and peeled Nero off Ryou.

"Ryou I'd like to introduce you to Nero, the angel," Yugi said pointing to Nero's wings.

"Hi, hi, hi!" Nero chirped.

Ryou just continued to hold his nose like it was about it fall off. Yugi wasn't quite sure to make of that reaction but he was certain it was better than the shadow-magic heavy reaction Yami would have had.

"I'm going to take Nero upstairs to get some proper clothes on him now…Ryou? …You hear me?" Yugi blinked at the stone-stiff albino.

When Ryou didn't respond Yugi just shrugged casually and led Nero back up to his room to pick out something a little more appropriate.

While he did that Yami entered the game-shop.

/Yugi! I'm home! I have a few hours to spend before I have to go out and I thought we could have a game or something…um…why is Ryou here?/

This casual greeting, that would normally fill Yugi with glee, for some reason caused every instinct in Yugi's body to scream out a warning instead.

"ACK! Um…oh crap I hadn't thought about what to tell him …Oh…fudge just the thought of explaining the history of the Christian faith and then thrusting proof of it at him makes my head hurt. Damn, damn, damn," Yugi scowled to himself.

Nero, now dressed in a pair of jeans and looking over several shirts, looked curiously over at his human.

"Yugi-sama wha-" he didn't get finished before Yugi suddenly shoved Nero into the closet and locked the door.

:/Yugi-sama?/:

/It's Yami eer scary guy, and I um…d-don't want you to meet him yet. So please just stay in there right now okay?/ Yugi explained in a rush.

Nero nodded from inside the closet then –realizing Yugi wouldn't be able to see that—answered with a crisp mental 'okay'.

Yugi sighed in relief then sped downstairs to meet up with his ex-pharaoh.

**SCENECHANGE**

Downstairs Yami couldn't help but stare at the white haired hikari in 'his' living room. Ryou looked like he'd gone to paradise and then suddenly came crashing and the pale boy was growing strangely paler as blood from his nose gushed into his handkerchief like Niagara Falls.

"'As it stobed 'et?" Ryou asked with his head tilted far back.

Yami pulled the once white-cloth of Ryou's nose and looked.

"Nope, still bleeding."

The sound of feet came thumping down the stairs pulled Yami's attention over to his breathless aibou that was now standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi Ya-holy cow Ryou your nose is really bleeding!" Yugi said. Yugi ran over to Ryou's side pulling the white skinned teen down so Yugi could get a better look at Ryou's nose.

Yami sighed and smiled teasingly, "oh that's the greeting I get?"

Yugi blinked and blushed smiling sheepishly at his Yami.

"Sorry, it's just I noticed Ryou's nose and I-"

"I know, I know, so what happened?"

"'Ero ame unnin' own da chairs wid oud pan-"

"S-so don't you have that date with Anzu tonight?" Yugi asked, cruely pinching Ryou's nose in threat.

Because Yami wasn't fluent in nasal-congested speech he didn't pick up on anything odd and simply shrugged, letting Yugi get away with his topic-change. Also Yami wasn't in a mood to dig for details.

"At 5:30, apparently I forgot to factor in the huge amounts of time it takes for a girl to primp herself for a date."

"5:30, wow! Wonder what she'll end up wearing that needs two hours to put on," Yugi blinked.

"…Good question," Yami blinked.

Ryou only whimpered and pinched his nose tighter.

**SCENECHANGE**

Every day a beautiful white-haired male came into the Shirowaki Bar beside the bus-depo and ordered the strongest liquor there was.

And every day that same beautiful male snarled at her when she approached and he sat in a glum comma until he'd drunk enough vodka to degrease a tank.

That beautiful male would then be in such a tizzy that he'd gladly dance with anyone around and get very 'hands-on' until he'd look at his watch mumble something like: "Ry don need ta be alone dis long" and leave.

But today was going to be different, today Iizawa Ito was going to be the one that luscious male danced with, and she was going to take him to her hotel with her until her damn yakuza daddy came for his nightly play.

A girl had to have _some_ fun!

The bar door creaked open at 3:30 and Bakura walked in looking like a particularly leather-loving ghost. He nodded respectfully at the bartender and took a seat in the last booth.

Iizawa adjusted her 'ladies' in her corset top and went in for the kill.

**SCENECHANGE**

After about two minutes Ryou's nose had stopped bleeding and the boy decided to go. He tried to ask Yugi to say good-bye to Nero again before Yugi shoved him out the door. Fortunately, Yami was getting a soda from the kitchen at that moment it all worked out fine.

"So what do you want to do?" Yugi asked as he walked into the kitchen with his arms folded behind his head.

"We could duel; we haven't done that in a while," Yami suggested.

"Do you think of anything besides games?" Yugi laughed.

"I'm an ancient disciple of shadow games, aibou, what else would I think about?" Yami smirked.  
**  
SCENECHANGE  
**  
The little angel looked around the tiny closet. He was beyond absolutely bored but Yugi-sama ordered him to stay here. And unlike his last house inspection, Nero didn't think he could find another loophole to duck under this order.

"Waiting always waiting for you to come and get me," Nero sang to himself before sighing and turning his focus to Yugi's thoughts.

/Oh man this is great! I haven't had a good duel in so long and…oh…no he's not going to use that card is he? Oh he is I better-/

:/Yugi-sama?/:

/ACK! What the…o-oh Nero it's just you what is it?/ Yugi jolted, causing Yami to smirk thinking it was dueling nerves.

:/I'm so squished when can I come out/:

Yugi gulped and Yami smirked further, putting another card on the field.

/Oh my Go…gosh, Nero I'm so sorry I forgot about you!/

:/Not big a deal/: Nero sighed :/I very used to it:/

Yami waited for his hikari to make his move. Judging by his reactions earlier Yami had this duel in the bag but he still wanted to see what his other-half did…if the boy would just MOVE!

"Yugi!" Yami yelled. Yugi jumped and looked up at Yami.

"Huh?" he asked confused.

"Your move," Yami laughed gently, trying to not let his competitive spirit get to him.

"Oh um …I guess I play this one then," Yugi said putting down a card that instantly subtracted 100 points for every card with 'Dark' in its title and sent it to the graveyard.

"GACK!" Yami blanched. His Dark Magician, Dark Hole, Dark Tome and Dark Ritual cards all became useless.

"What?" Yugi asked.

"I can't believe you actually beat me!" Yami yelled.

"I did?" Yugi wondered, he looked at the board, "Oh I guess I did. Dumb luck I guess, listen Yami I have to go take care of something I'll be right back."

"Take care of wa-" Yami started but Yugi was already up the stairs.

Yami looked back at the board, "I can't believe I LOST!"

**SCENECHANGE**

Yugi slammed his bedroom door open and nearly pulled the closet door off its' hinges causing the angel inside to come rolling out.

"Hi, hi, hi Yugi-sama!" Nero sang happily.

"Are you OK Nero, your wing didn't get bent did it?" Yugi asked worriedly as he dropped to his knees in front of Nero to check the little angel's wing.

"Fine Yugi-sama," Nero smiled.

"I should have remembered sooner, I'm so sorry," Yugi huffed.

Nero smiled sadly, "I'm always forgotten no big problem."

Yugi blinked in surprise at Nero's suddenly somber expression.

"Nero I..." Yugi said putting a hand on the angel's shoulder.

Nero just smiled at Yugi tears in his eyes. He then shivered.

"Oh you must be cold with just those pants on," Yugi said. He got up and grabbed the blanket off his bed and he threw it over Nero's shoulders.

"Is that better?" Yugi asked. Nero just shivered a little more.

Yugi sat down beside him and rubbed the angel's arms trying to make enough friction to keep the little one warm. Yugi did this for a few moments then he realized how close he was sitting to Nero.

The little angel was practically in his lap.

"Err uh," Yugi blushed and moved backwards. Nero just blinked curiously at him.

"I have to get back to Yami now, stay here," Yugi smiled as he started to leave the room.

"Right Yugi-sama I just stay here," Nero smiled. Yugi blushed and left the angel alone.

Nero sat under the blanketand, for some reason, he felt warm inside.

Yami looked up as Yugi hopped off the last stair.

"What was that about?" the spirit asked.

"Nothing," Yugi said quickly, his face going red. Yami frowned in suspicion but he didn't say anything about it.

"Well I have to head off for my date with Anzu now," he said standing up, "I'll probably be back sometime around eight."

"Alright have fun Yami," Yugi smiled as Yami left; he tried to ignore that same icy shaft that went through his heart, instead focusing on the relief he felt instead.

"Well since Yami is gone I'll make some dinner for Nero and I."

Yugi was about to enter the kitchen went the door opened again.

"Forget something Ya-YIKES ANOTHER ANGEL!"

**Masaka:** Mwahahaha the suspense is still there!

The blonde was nearly out the door when a portly old man in a very smart brown business suit stepped into the doorway. Joey took one look at him and dashed back to his seat.

Nobody messed with this guy. He was Councilor Harrison, the only councilor whose students went from unruly to scared straight within a week.

The man glared at the class with dangerously sharp brown eyes that were nearly hidden behind frown wrinkles.

"I see your teacher isn't here yet," he muttered.

"No sir," the whole class replied in unison.

"Well when she gets here tell her I have two delinquents," Mr. Harrison said yanking forth two teens by their ears, "that she needs to deal with."

"Yes sir," the class chimed again.

It was only then that Yugi noticed one of the 'delinquents' was Yami and the other was Anzu.

/YAMI! What on earth!/

/It's all right Yugi, I didn't blow up another of the facility cars/ Yami sighed, catching the mental path his aibou was following

/What did you do then?/ Yugi asked hesitantly. The boy knew too well what kind of damage an ex-spirit could do…and he wasn't in any mood for eating instant ramen for a month after spending their entire food budget on Yami out of trouble… again.

/Oh it's nothing that serious. Anzu and I got caught at a café…a café that Mr. Harrison also apparently likes. /

/Oh boy!/ Yugi sighed, feeling a little bad that he wasn't more upset for the other's sake.

/Yah well now you know… see you later Yugi/ Yami sent a weak smile at his aibou before being dragged away.

:/OOOH! Who was that?/: Nero's voice suddenly reappeared.

/Could you hear him too?/ Yugi asked. He didn't even try to understand how Nero could be on a different connection than the one he shared with Yami. He just hoped that the combination of the two mental-connections wouldn't cause him to grow a brain tumor.

:/Nope but I saw him through your eyes, he looks just like you…only if you were scary./:

/YAMI ISN'T SCARY!/ Yugi unintentionally but automatically yelled back at the angel /He's confident, and cool and kind, maybe …okay maybe he's a little intimidating but he's also really honorable and fair and…he isn't scary!/

:/Mm if you say so Yugi-sama. Who is he?/:

Yugi flushed at his behavior and sent an apologetic emotional nudge back towards the angel before he answered. /I thought I told you about him…but…I guess not. Well, he's my dark-half Yami 'Atem' Motuh./ Yugi said.

:/OH! You mean from Millennium Puzzle?/:

/HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?/ Yugi yelped.

:/Millennium Items was a big controversy in Heaven cuz ...ooh! What's this thing do?/: Suddenly the link was cut off as Nero's attentions went off to another of Yugi's appliances.

Yugi didn't have the heart to interrupt his fun.

**SCENECHANGE**

The angel smiled and put aside the toaster. Despite knowing less about modern technology than the millennium spirits on their return to the modern-age Nero had somehow, amazingly, not burnt or broke it.

Human gadgets were always interesting to Nero though, so he always took great pains to treat everything with great care…Well…everything that wasn't super shiny with a nasty beak that snapped at your fingers.

Thoroughly satisfied that he'd figured out the meaning of the toaster Nero sat it back on the counter and sighed.

"What should I do? I so bored."

Nero was very easily entertained but he had already messed with all the things with pretty buttons and everything shiny in the kitchen and he had even looked around in the trash-can.

On a whim of curiosity Nero turned about-face and headed back upstairs to investigate what he could from there. He looked critically over all the family-pictures on the walls then came to stand right outside Yugi's bedroom door.

"Hmmm what does a human put in a room for sleep? A bed but what else?" Nero wondered. He titled his head curiously to one side then turned the knob and poked his head inside.

"SILVER CLOUDS!" Nero exclaimed. This room was MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more interesting than the other rooms.

"This room is REALLY pretty!" Nero laughed happily as he skipped into the room.

He looked around with fascinated eyes. The room was mostly blue with a slanted ceiling and well-placed skylight that filled the room with brilliant afternoon sunshine. The indented shelves took up the far wall and a closet stood at the same wall as the door but the architecture wasn't what made Nero squeal.

It was the particulars of the room that the angel found awe-inspiring, like the toy-chest at the foot of the bed and the desk spilling over with books and magazines and papers galore.

"This room is really, really, REALLY pretty!" Nero nearly sang.

The angel didn't waste another moment standing around. He looked at everything that had color. He pulled out toys from the toy-chest like a pirate uncovering treasure. Some of them were cute and soft, perfect for hugging, some had sharp pointy pieces that hurt it you held them too tight and some of them, ones shaped like little guys in green and gray splotches, held these little black stick things that made Nero shiver for some reason.

(A/N: Angels think toy-guns are a big no-no)

After looking and playing with all the toys Nero skipped over to the desk. He looked over all the pictures in the magazines and the illustrations in the books before coming across a REAL treasure made up of a super-range crayon box and a stack of paper.

Yugi had doodled a few very wobbly pictures of his friends and monsters on the first few pages and Nero could see the abandoned attempt to draw a woman with maroon-hair like Yugi-sama's own hair. Nero gently traced the edges of the squiggly, unfinished figure then put the papers back on the desk and returned to the toy-chest.

Nero rummaged around inside of it until he came across little orbs that looked like Heaven's galaxy-orbs. Nero squealed in delight and started to set up for a game of 'beyond the axis of space/time' (A/N: a rather metaphysical variation of marbles). Before Nero could formally arranged the game-circle and begin his pantomime of the expanding space theory, the bottom of the marbles' bag ripped open and the orbs went scattering everywhere.

Nero scrambled after them, following a particular fast moving shooter into the closet. Nero's triumph over capturing the marble was then immediately forgotten in a gleeful haze of fashion admiration.

"Human clothes are really, really pretty!" Nero giggled. He rubbed his cheek on the soft material of a cream-colored pair of leather pants.

He pushed the closet door open a little wider to see what other clothes were in there when a flicker of light made him yelp as his eyes nearly went blind.

Rubbing the red-spot out of his retinas the little angel titled the door a little and - still holding the 'pretty' pants—noticed the mirror hanging on the inside of Yugi's closet for the first time.

Now in heaven there are no mirrors; there had never been a need. Souls don't need to see themselves to know what they looked like back on earth –some of them would rather not see themselves anyhow-, and angels were too busy with more important matters to care what they looked like. So when Nero saw his reflection for the first time it was a bit of a surprise. Just like a little new-born kitten he walked over to the mirror and tried to touch the boy there.

"What is…" Nero then smiled and laughed, "oh it's me, hello!" he waved at himself enjoying seeing the image copy his movements.

He then noticed his appearance. His once immaculately white robes were gray with dust and there were large tears and rips in it. The cuffs that had once been ringed with small golden jewels were now gone leaving stringy fringes behind.

Nero looked at his hair noticing the straight golden locks and the brown curls were matted with sweat, crusty blood and more dust. His face was also gray and there was a single pink scratch on the tip of his nose and skid like pink marks on his cheekbones.

"Oh," Nero said softly, "I look…so real. Poor me, I not cut out for this body-owning stuff, am I?

The little angel scratched his chin in thought for a moment then snapped his fingers triumphantly and closed his eyes. He held his hands straight out in front of him, palms to heaven and stretched out his uninjured wing. The feathers stretched apart started glowing like a star.

The little angel's wings send streams of glimmering gold light flooding to all corners of the room like a torrent of gold dust. Nero began to chant under his breath, his voice becoming steadily more musical until the words had changed into musical tones. The torrent of gold spiraled around Nero for a moment then fled back into Nero's wing and Nero's wing folded back behind Nero's back.

Nero sighed -a little tired from the effort of performing his first guardian song- then opened his eyes and looked in his reflection. The cut had disappeared and his face was now perfectly peach again. His hair was now mess-free and Nero had not a speck of dust on him.

"Better now, me?" Nero asked his reflection with a giggle.

Nero frowned at the reflection of his clothes again then at Yugi's white leather pants.

"Hmmm…" Nero smiled then giggled.  
**  
SCENECHANGE  
**  
Yugi sighed in complete and utter mind-numbing boredom. His homeroom teacher had shown up half an hour late. Then she'd apologized saying she'd been out all night and would have to group everyone up for kanji review. Then in next class the teacher ran out of the room sick leaving the students to mingle until a substitute came in with worksheets. After that his gym-class had been cancelled because a pipe in the locker-room busted meaning MORE worksheets.

If Yugi had to go through one more class like this he'd scream.

/Something wrong, aibou?/ Yami asked from his desk.

The teacher had come to Mr. Harrison's office and got him off the hook. Anzu, on the other,hand had missed too many classes to attend dance auditions and the teacher had not let her off.

/Huh?/ Yugi asked looking sleepily over at his yami.

'He looks so cute like that.' Yami thought subconsciously.

/Oh uh nothing 's wrong, Yami/

/Bored?/ Yami asked.

/OUT OF MY MIND!/ Yugi mentally whined. Yami chuckled.

/Well it's the last class before the weekend. How about you and I do something afterwards?/

/R-really!/ Yugi mentally asked

/Sure we can…oh shit wait, I have a date with Anzu.../ Yami snapped his fingers.

/Some other time then/ Yugi sighed, trying to not let it get to him. He was becoming the master of the brush-off.

Before Yami could respond the bell screamed out it obnoxiously loud final call freeing the students from drudgery… and causing a dozing Joey to tumble off his desk right under Kaiba's feet.

Oops, looked like another fight.

Knowing that getting between a Kaiba/Joey fight would only cause trouble Yugi turned from the chaos and started to pack up his stuff when someone came over, casting a shadow over Yugi and instantly getting his attention.

"Are you ready Yugi?" Ryou asked. Yugi looked back at him slightly puzzled.

Ryou laughed at the expression, "You wanted to show me something after school, didn't you? "

"OH! Right Ryou, sorry," Yugi blushed.

Ryou just waved a hand dismissing the apology, "it's alright Yugi, it's hard to remember anything after a day like today."

"Defiantly," Yugi laughed.

Yugi finished packing his bag and the two hikaris headed out of school.

Yami finished packing his bag as well and was lifting his head to see how far Yugi was already but he ran into something soft and squishy on the way.

"Oh naughty-naughty Yami, bopping a girl's boobs," Anzu laughed.

Immediately Yami's face went up in red; he was a mostly properly modest ex-pharaoh after all.

"O-Oh uh sorry Anzu…koi."

Anzu giggled flirtatiously and took a step closer to Yami batting her eyelashes at him.

"So you ready to go to the movie this afternoon?" she asked.

Frankly Yami wasn't but he knew he'd promised; "u-uh y-ya I-I just h-have to…just have to drop his stuff off at the Game Shop."

"And I have to get dressed up so meet me at 5:30 outside the Cineplex," Anzu gave Yami a quick kiss on the cheek then ran off.

"At 5:30? I'm not going to take THAT long," Yami blinked. The ex-pharaoh then noticed Anzu's absence and shrugged.

Behind him Kaiba won triumphantly against Joey in their 226th petty squabble.

**SCENECHANGE**

After a long a dreary bus-ride Ryou and Yugi managed to make it to the right street without too much trouble.

"So what's this thing you told me about?" Ryou asked his short companion.

"Something that will blow your mind; that's all I can tell you without sounding nuts," Yugi laughed.

Ryou shrugged and the two boys reached the Kame Game Shop door. Yugi unlocked the back-door and slipped off his shoes with Ryou right behind him.

"Your grandfather is still in Egypt then?" Ryou asked.

"Yep, he's in charge of a dig at the old Temple of The Ancient Door. And you know how careful he has to be around a place like that…I think he likes the danger though, probably makes it more exciting for him," Yugi nodded, "HEY NERO!"

Ryou looked at Yugi questioningly. Yugi just smiled weakly back at him.

"OH! COMING-COMING YUGI-SAMA!" Nero's musical voice answered back Yugi's call.

From upstairs came the sound of pounding feet and then Nero came into view with his one unwounded wing flowing behind him like a graceful shawl.

But that's not what caught Ryou or even Yugi's attention as much as the outfit the angel was wearing. The little angel had taken off his heavenly robes and slipped on Yugi's cream-colored leather pants which now hung tight to Nero's every curve and accented his pale glowing skin. Also Nero had somehow managed to get the shirt off so there were only the bandages for Nero's wing on his chest.

'Well he certainly doesn't look twelve-years-old dressed like THAT,' some perverted corner of Yugi's mind cackled.

"Oh lord," Ryou seemed to react the same as his nose suddenly began to bleed.

Nero seemed oblivious to his new master's shock and he laughed happily as he glided down the stairs to Yugi's side, spinning around him twice before hugged him.

"Welcome home Yugi-sama," Nero smiled and nuzzled Yugi's neck.

"H-h-hey Nero, w-where'd you g-get that uh n-new outfit?" Yugi stammered, too shocked to really react against the cuddling.

"Oh!" Nero floated a few steps away from Yugi. "Uh well I thought this was so pretty I just had to try it on," Nero frowned, "but at first it didn't fit so I had to take of my boxers-"

"OH LORD!" Ryou yelled gripping his nose so hard the cartilage could have cracked.

Nero blinked then turned to look at Ryou, "who are you?" he asked.

"F-friend of Y-Y-Yugi's," Ryou mumbled.

"Friend of Yugi is friend of mine!" Nero smiled before hugging the silver- haired youth.

Ryou gulped several times trying to calm himself down, and not blushed empathetically and peeled Nero off Ryou.

"Ryou I'd like to introduce you to Nero, the angel," Yugi said pointing to Nero's wings.

"Hi, hi, hi!" Nero chirped.

Ryou just continued to hold his nose like it was about it fall off. Yugi wasn't quite sure to make of that reaction but he was certain it was better than the shadow-magic heavy reaction Yami would have had.

"I'm going to take Nero upstairs to get some proper clothes on him now…Ryou? …You hear me?" Yugi blinked at the stone-stiff albino.

When Ryou didn't respond Yugi just shrugged casually and led Nero back up to his room to pick out something a little more appropriate.

While he did that Yami entered the game-shop.

/Yugi! I'm home! I have a few hours to spend before I have to go out and I thought we could have a game or something…um…why is Ryou here?/

This casual greeting, that would normally fill Yugi with glee, for some reason caused every instinct in Yugi's body to scream out a warning instead.

"ACK! Um…oh crap I hadn't thought about what to tell him …Oh…fudge just the thought of explaining the history of the Christian faith and then thrusting proof of it at him makes my head hurt. Damn, damn, damn," Yugi scowled to himself.

Nero, now dressed in a pair of jeans and looking over several shirts, looked curiously over at his human.

"Yugi-sama wha-" he didn't get finished before Yugi suddenly shoved Nero into the closet and locked the door.

:/Yugi-sama?/:

/It's Yami eer scary guy, and I um…d-don't want you to meet him yet. So please just stay in there right now okay?/ Yugi explained in a rush.

Nero nodded from inside the closet then –realizing Yugi wouldn't be able to see that—answered with a crisp mental 'okay'.

Yugi sighed in relief then sped downstairs to meet up with his ex-pharaoh.

**SCENECHANGE**

Downstairs Yami couldn't help but stare at the white haired hikari in 'his' living room. Ryou looked like he'd gone to paradise and then suddenly came crashing and the pale boy was growing strangely paler as blood from his nose gushed into his handkerchief like Niagara Falls.

"'As it stobed 'et?" Ryou asked with his head tilted far back.

Yami pulled the once white-cloth of Ryou's nose and looked.

"Nope, still bleeding."

The sound of feet came thumping down the stairs pulled Yami's attention over to his breathless aibou that was now standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi Ya-holy cow Ryou your nose is really bleeding!" Yugi said. Yugi ran over to Ryou's side pulling the white skinned teen down so Yugi could get a better look at Ryou's nose.

Yami sighed and smiled teasingly, "oh that's the greeting I get?"

Yugi blinked and blushed smiling sheepishly at his Yami.

"Sorry, it's just I noticed Ryou's nose and I-"

"I know, I know, so what happened?"

"'Ero ame unnin' own da chairs wid oud pan-"

"S-so don't you have that date with Anzu tonight?" Yugi asked, cruely pinching Ryou's nose in threat.

Because Yami wasn't fluent in nasal-congested speech he didn't pick up on anything odd and simply shrugged, letting Yugi get away with his topic-change. Also Yami wasn't in a mood to dig for details.

"At 5:30, apparently I forgot to factor in the huge amounts of time it takes for a girl to primp herself for a date."

"5:30, wow! Wonder what she'll end up wearing that needs two hours to put on," Yugi blinked.

"…Good question," Yami blinked.

Ryou only whimpered and pinched his nose tighter.

**SCENECHANGE**

Every day a beautiful white-haired male came into the Shirowaki Bar beside the bus-depo and ordered the strongest liquor there was.

And every day that same beautiful male snarled at her when she approached and he sat in a glum comma until he'd drunk enough vodka to degrease a tank.

That beautiful male would then be in such a tizzy that he'd gladly dance with anyone around and get very 'hands-on' until he'd look at his watch mumble something like: "Ry don need ta be alone dis long" and leave.

But today was going to be different, today Iizawa Ito was going to be the one that luscious male danced with, and she was going to take him to her hotel with her until her damn yakuza daddy came for his nightly play.

A girl had to have _some_ fun!

The bar door creaked open at 3:30 and Bakura walked in looking like a particularly leather-loving ghost. He nodded respectfully at the bartender and took a seat in the last booth.

Iizawa adjusted her 'ladies' in her corset top and went in for the kill.

**SCENECHANGE**

After about two minutes Ryou's nose had stopped bleeding and the boy decided to go. He tried to ask Yugi to say good-bye to Nero again before Yugi shoved him out the door. Fortunately, Yami was getting a soda from the kitchen at that moment it all worked out fine.

"So what do you want to do?" Yugi asked as he walked into the kitchen with his arms folded behind his head.

"We could duel; we haven't done that in a while," Yami suggested.

"Do you think of anything besides games?" Yugi laughed.

"I'm an ancient disciple of shadow games, aibou, what else would I think about?" Yami smirked.  
**  
SCENECHANGE  
**  
The little angel looked around the tiny closet. He was beyond absolutely bored but Yugi-sama ordered him to stay here. And unlike his last house inspection, Nero didn't think he could find another loophole to duck under this order.

"Waiting always waiting for you to come and get me," Nero sang to himself before sighing and turning his focus to Yugi's thoughts.

/Oh man this is great! I haven't had a good duel in so long and…oh…no he's not going to use that card is he? Oh he is I better-/

:/Yugi-sama?/:

/ACK! What the…o-oh Nero it's just you what is it?/ Yugi jolted, causing Yami to smirk thinking it was dueling nerves.

:/I'm so squished when can I come out/:

Yugi gulped and Yami smirked further, putting another card on the field.

/Oh my Go…gosh, Nero I'm so sorry I forgot about you!/

:/Not big a deal/: Nero sighed :/I very used to it:/

Yami waited for his hikari to make his move. Judging by his reactions earlier Yami had this duel in the bag but he still wanted to see what his other-half did…if the boy would just MOVE!

"Yugi!" Yami yelled. Yugi jumped and looked up at Yami.

"Huh?" he asked confused.

"Your move," Yami laughed gently, trying to not let his competitive spirit get to him.

"Oh um …I guess I play this one then," Yugi said putting down a card that instantly subtracted 100 points for every card with 'Dark' in its title and sent it to the graveyard.

"GACK!" Yami blanched. His Dark Magician, Dark Hole, Dark Tome and Dark Ritual cards all became useless.

"What?" Yugi asked.

"I can't believe you actually beat me!" Yami yelled.

"I did?" Yugi wondered, he looked at the board, "Oh I guess I did. Dumb luck I guess, listen Yami I have to go take care of something I'll be right back."

"Take care of wa-" Yami started but Yugi was already up the stairs.

Yami looked back at the board, "I can't believe I LOST!"

**SCENECHANGE**

Yugi slammed his bedroom door open and nearly pulled the closet door off its' hinges causing the angel inside to come rolling out.

"Hi, hi, hi Yugi-sama!" Nero sang happily.

"Are you OK Nero, your wing didn't get bent did it?" Yugi asked worriedly as he dropped to his knees in front of Nero to check the little angel's wing.

"Fine Yugi-sama," Nero smiled.

"I should have remembered sooner, I'm so sorry," Yugi huffed.

Nero smiled sadly, "I'm always forgotten no big problem."

Yugi blinked in surprise at Nero's suddenly somber expression.

"Nero I..." Yugi said putting a hand on the angel's shoulder.

Nero just smiled at Yugi tears in his eyes. He then shivered.

"Oh you must be cold with just those pants on," Yugi said. He got up and grabbed the blanket off his bed and he threw it over Nero's shoulders.

"Is that better?" Yugi asked. Nero just shivered a little more.

Yugi sat down beside him and rubbed the angel's arms trying to make enough friction to keep the little one warm. Yugi did this for a few moments then he realized how close he was sitting to Nero.

The little angel was practically in his lap.

"Err uh," Yugi blushed and moved backwards. Nero just blinked curiously at him.

"I have to get back to Yami now, stay here," Yugi smiled as he started to leave the room.

"Right Yugi-sama I just stay here," Nero smiled. Yugi blushed and left the angel alone.

Nero sat under the blanketand, for some reason, he felt warm inside.

Yami looked up as Yugi hopped off the last stair.

"What was that about?" the spirit asked.

"Nothing," Yugi said quickly, his face going red. Yami frowned in suspicion but he didn't say anything about it.

"Well I have to head off for my date with Anzu now," he said standing up, "I'll probably be back sometime around eight."

"Alright have fun Yami," Yugi smiled as Yami left; he tried to ignore that same icy shaft that went through his heart, instead focusing on the relief he felt instead.

"Well since Yami is gone I'll make some dinner for Nero and I."

Yugi was about to enter the kitchen went the door opened again.

"Forget something Ya-YIKES ANOTHER ANGEL!"

**Masaka:** Mwahahaha the suspense is still there!


	4. REWRITE CHAPTER FOUR

**CHAPTER FOUR: Her Name Is Nizuki**

**Masaka:** HELLOOOO! Sorry for not updating for a while

**Yami Masaka:** After a chapter like the last one why would anyone care-

**Masaka: *****smacks Yami Masaka in the head***

**Nero:** WHO IS OTHER ANGEL!

**Masaka:** Hold on Nero we're about to find out

**Nero:** YIPPEE!

Yugi stumbled backwards a step or two to land on his bottom as a beautiful seraph stepped into his house with a very cold look on its face.

Unlike Nero there was nothing cuddly about this angel. This angel not only looked older, but it had a very powerful radiance to it. This angel looked more like the type who'd been sent to destroy cities once upon a time than a cherub that liked to play with human toys.

As the angel squeezed through the front door it flared out its wings in what Yugi could only assume was a threatening manner, illuminating the hallway with the rich golden light that poured off every feather. Yugi probably would have been blinded except for the fact that for some reason or other this angel's feathers were tipped in gray which kept the light from being too overpowering.

Gold seemed to be this angel's main color because not only where its wings gold, but its waist-length hair was a brilliant amber color and its eyes shone like sunlight through a glass honey-jar.

Yugi gulped nervously and dropped his gaze from angel's face, trying to look for some less intimidating place to rest his eyes. As his eyes roamed down the angel's frame, however, he noticed with some surprise that this angel…was female.

Well, probably. Yugi couldn't be absolutely sure because the angel had absolutely no cleavage but it definitely had hips that were too wide for a male. That and its hands and feet were femininely plump –and wrapped up in a very intimidating cord of chain—.

"Um…hi?" Yugi said nervously. He would have said more if he could get his knees to stop knocking.

The angel's frown deepened and Yugi could swear he felt his internal organs freeze.

"All right mortal, I'm feeling generous so tell me where are you stashing him and I won't set your house ablaze, understand?" the chain-wielding, older, female being of glory ordered. Her voice not quite as musical as Nero's but rather powerful like a cresting wave.

"S…stashing? Stashing whom?" Yugi asked, his mind a worrisome blank.

The girl-angel floated over to Yugi and her expression darkened.

"Where is the Gabriel?"

"…Nero! You're talking about Nero!" Yugi finally exclaimed in shock.

From the way Nero had acted last night Yugi hadn't expected anyone from…you know…Up There…would be coming from the little winged one any time soon.

Then again Yugi had only been in acquaintance with the student-angel for about eighteen hours, so the standards of angels were still pretty unclear to him.

"Nero?" The angel-girl repeated with blissfully human-esque confusion, "That does not sound familiar. The Gabriel I'm looking for didn't have a name."

"Yugi-sama gave me one!" Nero's voice chirped from the top of the stairs.

Both Yugi and the angel whipped around to look at the little one. Despite the rather hazardous way Yugi had been hiding him earlier Nero didn't look so bad, and with the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders, the fact that the little angel was only dressed in jeans didn't look so suspicious.

"GABRIEL!" the girl angel yelled in exhilaration.

She body-slammed Yugi out of her way –and into the nearest wall- then ran up the stairs to draw Nero into a tight embrace.

"Oh Gabbie, I was so worried about you! I mean when I overheard Nakagato-sensai saying you'd leapt to earth my heart just nearly stopped! Oh I should have KNOWN you'd be too overly-sensitive!"

"I'm ok, Nizuki!" Nero muttered, his face pressed right into the girl's robes.

Yugi watched this little exchange from the floor in slight amusement. It seemed that even in Heaven there were sibling like relationships, and that thought was really comforting.

Yugi was just starting to wonder what kind of angel this 'Nizuki' was to already look like a nineteen-year-old and have a name when the girl-angel's humor faded and she held the Nero at arms'-length and glowered at him.

"Well now that I know you're alright… WHAT IS _WRONG_ WITH YOU! Why in the name of the stars did you run away in the first place? And of all the places to run away TO why did you come here? Why didn't you come to me? You could have been hurt, you could have been molested, no worse, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!"

Nero bowed his head down until his face vanished under his bangs and he mumbled a timid, "I'm sorry."

Nizuki looked at the ceiling in what Yugi somehow knew to be a call to higher powers for patience then she dropped to her knees to 'stand' face to face with her companion.

"Gab-…Nero. Nero look at me…" The blonde commanded. Nero looked up tearfully.

"You are the biggest idiot I know." Nero's head went back down but Nizuki put a hand under his chin and lifted the child's head back up, "because you should have known I'd have understood your troubles. It hurts to think you didn't trust me to help and you went and ran away to earth instead…but then again I think we both realize what rebels we sometimes have to be."

Nero sniffled and gave a faint smile and looked about ready to reply when a fake cough brought both eternals' attention down towards the teenager at the foot of the stairs.

"Not to interrupt but could someone PLEASE tell me what's going on here," Yugi asked.

"Oh!" Nero squeaked and blushed, "I'm sorry Yugi- sama."

"Sama?" Nizuki asked narrowing her eyes suspiciously at Yugi, her pretty,-STILL chain-wrapped-, knuckles clenching threateningly.

Yugi grinned nervously at her and held his hands up passively.

"Yah! Oh! Yah Nizuki-onee, this is Yugi-sam! He saved me! He helped me wrap up my wing when it got hurt on my Fall," Nero said pulling the blanket down enough to show off the sling around his wing.

Nizuki blinked wide-eyed at it.

"Oh my," she turned and looked at Yugi again, "oh dear."

"And-and Yugi-sama also gave me place to stay! And so, cuz it's a rule, since Yugi-sama helped me I'm gonna grant his wish!" Nero chirped.

Nizuki looked in Nero's excited eyes and smiled teasingly.

"Oh yes and I'm sure that the fact that granting Yugi's wish keeps you away from heaven longer has nothing to do with your excitement, ne?"

Nero blushed and turned away while Nizuki just chuckled.

She snapped her wings briskly and gracefully flew down the stairs so that she was once again standing in front of Yugi.

Yugi almost started to panic when Nizuki bowed deeply in front of him. Then her golden hairs fell around her head to give a seductive flash of slender neck; after that Yugi just started to blush like crazy.

"My apologizes to you, Yugi," she said much more angelically. She lifted her head up and smiled at Yugi. "You see, I feared greatly for Nero's safety and well…sometimes I can get a little short-sighted with worry."

"Oh uh well err honest mistake," Yugi said blushing.

Privately he was wondering when how many angel-sightings it would take to become immune to their charm. And he was also wondering why it always seemed to be HIM that got involved in these sorts of things.

If St. Peter showed up for lunch tomorrow, Yugi was just going to lose it.

"Please understand that I've know Nero since he was a cherub," Nizuki explained, "and I know better than anyone how sensitive he is. He would think nothing of giving his every feather to another, and while that is a wonderful sentiment, such charity is dangerous."

"Err," Yugi said. He was stilled confused.

Nizuki apparently sensed this because she crossed her arms over her non-existent chest and looked at his curiously.

"What is it?"

"Wha…I thought angels had to be assigned to come down to earth," the teen commented stiffly, his mind running a little bit slow because of all the new information pounding around in his cranium.

Nizuki arms fell to her sides and she looked at Yugi in horror.

"What…did you…say?" she chocked.

"Well it's just Nero told me that angels only came to earth when they have mission so I thought-"

"Oh no!" She yelped suddenly, digging her elegant pink nails into her scalp. "I completely forgot!"

"Forgot what?" Yugi asked, taking a precautionary step back, encase the thing she'd forgotten had something to do with beating up any human that got in Nero's way of returning to Heaven.

"I CAN'T BELIVE I FORGOT THAT I HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT! I-I GUESS…I JUST GOT DISTRACTED WHEN I SENSED NERO THAT EVERYTHING ELSE IN MY HEAD JUST SORT OF BLANKED OUT! AHHHH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"

"Nizuki is going to care for a human?" Nero asked.

Nizuki nodded distractedly at him as she unfurled her wings and charged towards the door.

"Yes I have a human to look after, and I can't stay around here any longer or I'll be taking a human up to the pearly gates instead! I have to go! Godbye Yugi! Nero I'll help you with the wish thing later. I REALLY HAVE TO GO!"

And with that the female angel zipped out the door.

Nero and Yugi watched after the seraph for a moment then looked at each other in surprise.

Yugi gently broke their gaze and went over to the door, closing it and locking it against any more surprises.

Once pacified he turned back to Nero and gave the angel a nervous smile

"Well...she seemed nice," Yugi said sheepishly.

Nero sweat-dropped.

**SCENE CHANGE**

Several blocks away a certain Half-Brit nudged his front-door open with his shoulder and let out a heavy-sigh.

It had not been a good day for the Ryou Bakura. After getting the most major nose-bleed he'd ever had in all his teenager years, the boy had ambled on home hoping to catch up on some light reading and rest for the weekend.

Unfortunately, the moment he got inside his nice Victorian-styled house he'd been faced with a stack of library books that had to be returned and an even more serious stack of bills he had to drop off at the post-office –mostly payments for Bakura's various purchases from _Leather and Steel Catalogue_-.

After getting that all sorted out Ryou had decided to grab a few groceries as well to hold him and his other-half over until his father sent the monthly stipend on Monday, which wouldn't have been so bad except this weird lady standing in front of the alcohol coolers had mistaken Ryou for his other-half and had nearly peeled off all his clothing and had her nasty little way with him before a store-clerk came running over to help.

After the crazy-Bakuragal had been taken care of Ryou had bought his things and ran to the bus, where he ran across another one of Bakura's acquaintances. That time it was a punk who'd demanded Ryou fork over ¥20000 or less lose a finger.

Luckily the cops who'd arrested Bakuragal were still in the area so they came and settled the matter before anything happened but Ryou was still very glad to be back home.

The white-haired bishonen sighed heavily and trudged to the kitchen, dumping the grocery bags onto the kitchen counter with none of his usual tidiness.

"I wonder where Bakura is, anyway? He was home when I was gathering up the bill. I hope he's not getting into more trouble," Ryou shrugged to himself, "oh well."

Ryou's yami was always of skulking around rather dangerous parts of town. Not that Ryou had anything against that. If Bakura wanted to spend his new-life boozing and clubbing, that was his choice.

Only…only it wasn't just the boozing…it was as if being in the same house as Ryou for too long physically sickened Bakura.

Ryou tried to not think too much about it but the constant avoidance made him feel …well it made certain already latent guilt and self-hatred impulses well up in Ryou's soul with a little more power than they'd probably have otherwise.

After half-heartedly putting the food away, Ryou took a cola out of the eight-pack he'd bought and wandered back into the living-room.

Ryou plopped down on his well-cushioned couch and just took a moment to just look around the room.

Everything was clean and pressed. The white carpet was perfectly white, without blemish, the blue curtains were steamed straight; nothing seemed out of place.

'But it's always so quiet, it really does start to get to you after a while,' Ryou thought as he took a sip of his drink.

And it was very quiet. Ryou's house was historical. It had been built the first British Professor to come to Japan and its' rather generous grounds were thereby very distinct from any neighbors.

Ryou's favorite maple tree had once been filled with birds but for the same reason Ryou didn't dare keep fish or any other living pet the tree was now empty. Bakura was always out partying and Ryou's father, while a decent man, seemed to be incapable of staying in his adopted country for any decent amount of time. This left Ryou himself to fill the house with any noise at all.

'If I didn't usually have music going I'd think I was going deaf,' Ryou chuckled dryly at the humor less joke.

Slowly Ryou got up and went to the coat-rack to pull his CD player out of his backpack.

Ryou pulled the CD blindly from his little player and gently carried it over to the larger player in the entertainment center and pushed the CD into the slot. The machine clacked around its tracks for a second or two but as Ryou started to head upstairs gentle jazz music started to fill the room.

(**A/N:** AAAH Jazz music, gentle jazz, trumpets, saxophones ahhhhh **star-eyes holding pink cheek** Mmm… ACK Story! Must get back on track!)

"I'm glad Bakura isn't home right now, he despises jazz," Ryou sighed to himself as he slid out of his soiled uniform and slipped on his favorite pair of black-silk pajamas.

'I wonder why does it feel so late?' Ryou thought groggily rubbing an eye. He spotted the clock on his bedside table and nearly gagged.

"No wonders it's already twelve!"

Ryou sighed to himself and was just debating on whether it was alright to go to sleep while Bakura was still outside roaming when the front-door slammed open suddenly and a very unfamiliar feminine shriek came wafting up the stairs.

"Oooooh Kura-chan! Kura-chan come on, let me in! I'm sorry that my Papa-Daddy scared you at the hotel, but I promise he won't do anything! Plllllllease open the door! Come on honey!"

Ryou crept curiously over to the stairs and peered over the railing down at the foyer.

His other-half was back and as he usually did after a day of partying, the older male looked awful. His hair was a mess and his usually well-maintained, tight-fitted clothing looked like it had suffered a nine-round fight with a pack of cats.

As Ryou stared, a very well manicured hand shoot through the doorway and snatched Bakura's shirtfront.

"Ah well that explains the claw-marks," Ryou thought aloud.

Unfortunately Bakura must have heard that because the darker of the two ring-holders glowered up at him suddenly.

"Ryou! Get your ass down here and help me!" he yelled.

Ryou flinched at that too well-remembered tone of voice and darted down the stairs to Bakura's side.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Help me slam the door shut!" Bakura snarled.

"B-But that woman's hand will-"

"JUST HELP ME!" Bakura snarled.

Ryou flinched again and took a step forward to help when suddenly there was a very fleshy 'WHUMP' from the porch and the assault on the front-door halted.

Bakura stared at doorway in surprise then, against Ryou's protests, opened the door and looked outside.

"Phew! I DID make it in time after all!" a watery voice cooed.

Ryou tried to smoosh in next to his other-half when whatever had taken out the lady on the porch obviously took out the ex-spirit, causing the dark teen to collapse spectacularly onto the porch.

"There we go, all the trash is taken care of," someone said, and suddenly a woman marched into Ryou's house as easy as anything.

"W-what did you d-do to Bakura?" Ryou gasped.

"Oh I just sent little snow-bunny boy to snoozeville for a bit," the woman laughed, waving her hand casually in front of her. She then locked gazes with Ryou and smiled.

"Hello, Ryou Bakura," she said in a suddenly serious tone, "my name is Nizuki of the Gabriel and I have been sent here to be your guardian angel."

The exhaustion of the day finally caught up with him and Ryou collapse unconscious into the summer-scented arms of the seraph.

**Masaka:** YAHOOOO! Yes! Boom shaka laka! does little victory dance

**Yami Masaka:** OH COME ON! It's just one chapter!

**Masaka:** One chapter closer to bishounen LOOOOOOOVE!

**Yami Masaka:** Whatever, it's time to address the changes. Okay minna-san, the reason Masaka revised this chapter (aside from the fact she's nuts) **gets nailed in the head by one of Masaka's shoes** is because our first version of the chapter had Bakura as an immediate asshole –pardon my French—and Masaka didn't like that because Ryou wouldn't have any reason to fall for a drunken monster. That's all

**Masaka:** REVIEW! Oh please review all you nice people and tell me what you think!


	5. Rewrite Chapter Five

**CHAPTER FIVE: The Ground Rules**

Ryou groaned at the sound of his alarm and he pried his eyes open. Golden sunshine the same color as a certain angel's hair was pouring in through the blue curtains illuminating the room with both warmth and light.

But …he was alone.

"Oh…I guess it was just a dream then," Ryou sighed in a depressed tone, "for a minute I actually thought…"

Ryou shook his head and smiled warily to himself. "How silly of me. As if an actual angel would REALLY come strolling into my house like that."

Though he'd meant it to be a casual statement the words stabbed at a dark unhealed spot in his heart and caused the smile to drip off his lips as Ryou got to his feet.

The silence of his house weighed on him even more heavily than yesterday as Ryou sighed once to himself ashe got dressed in his favorite t-shirt and jeans before marching downstairs for breakfast.

Without once looking up, Ryou plopped down onto one of the bar-stools at the kitchen counter and with another sigh he reached for an orange.

"Well sheesh I went to all the trouble of resurrecting my old cooking skills and my little protectorate wants to eat fruit? That figures," that same oceanic voice that Ryou had heard the night before suddenly spoke up and caused Ryou's body to freeze.

Nizuki looked even more angelic than seemed possible standing in front of the sunshine filled window. Her wings were folded behind her back but were still obviously there, glowing as if they wanted to compete with the sunshine for rights to illuminate the house.

Unlike yesterday, however, Nizuki seemed to have made an attempt to try and tone down her appearance. She'd changed from her radiant robes to the sort of blue summer-dress that Ryou had always privately thought all girls looked best in and she'd done something to her skin so that it looked more material than before.

"I uh…I um…hello," Ryou said stupidly.

Nizuki didn't seem to mind as she smiled and said hello back.

"You like strawberries on your waffle I hope?" She asked holding out the pre-mention breakfast.

"I um…well…you…yes but um…why did you…make waffles?" Ryou asked hesitantly even as he accepted the plate.

"Honestly?" Nizuki smirked in a way that seemed marvelously mischievous. "I just like cooking. It's just one of those things you do when you are given a physical body."

"A…physical…you mean…as opposed to that glowing, Rider of the Apocalypse look you had yesterday?" Ryou asked smartly. He blushed slightly at his own bluntness but Nizuki just seemed to groan.

"Ah yes well that was a uh…transitory body that I …err…have a baaaad habit of using when I first introduce myself. I um…am a bit theatrical that way," the angel coughed and delicately readjusted her dress over her still fairly boyish physique.

Ryou blushed when he realized he was staring and Nizuki finally just laughed at him.

"Look will it make you feel better if I let you pinch me or something?"

"Oh! Um! N-No, that's not necessary, I mean I um-" Ryou started to protest before the angel just reached out and cupped his face. Her skin was warm and soft and smelled strangely of childhood things. But aside from the scent it was really a fantastically ordinary touch.

"You see? Physically manifestation as close to mortal as I'm allowed to get," Nizuki smiled gently as she gently stroked Ryou's left and right cheek before pulling away.

Ryou's heartbeat was in his throat and he anxiously checked himself for signs of another nose-bleed.

"Chill, Ry," the angel said as she picked up another fork and sliced off a bite of Ryou's waffle for herself. "I seriously doubt I'm your type.

"A-and how would you know that?" Ryou tried to put on a strong face.

"Angel intuition," Nizuki said in a not-to-truthful tone, "that and since I have been assigned to you I took a peek into your Soul Files."

"Soul Files," Ryou repeated as he lifted a bite of waffle to his own mouth, "those certainly sound impressive. What are they?"

"A record that keeps track of a person's life including records of certain dreams featuring certain leather-clad chibi angels."

Ryou nearly choked on his bite of breakfast. His face, if it had been debatably tinted before, was now defiantly red;"Y-you know about that?"

"Of course I know about that. I am friends with Nero in a way that is…similar to the way that you are friends with Yugi," Nizuki smiled. "Though I have to admit that I have never imagined him in quite as…graphic…a way as you have."

"Uh yah well," Ryou said trying to think of some excuse, "I-"

"You are a teenager," Nizuki said with an almost cheeky smile and a shrug, "and as such it is natural that you have hormones…in plethora."

Ryou did choke that time.

"Ah now while I certainly wish that I could keep this first meeting mild and not overwhelm you right away," Nizuki said walking out of the kitchen to take a seat beside Ryou. "There are some serious issues we have to clear up about your case."

"What types of things?" Ryou asked, praying it wasn't going to be something embarrassing.

"Well naturally you must be curious as to how you can see angels, aren't you?" Nizuki smiled

"Uh actually well…I-I thought it was just the same sort of magic that allows me to deal with ka-monsters," Ryou blushed.

Nizuki's smile momentarily slipped off and her fingers went up to stroke a previously unnoticed jewel decorating the upper-curve of her ear.

"N-No…no ka monsters are definitely NOT the same as…. No, we are not the same," the angel shuddered.

"I'm sorry?" Ryou said.

"No it's just…well magic DOES have a bit to do with why you and your friend Yugi are so …spiritual inclined but…let me just say that the intricacies of magic surrounding the Sennen Items are not…not a subject I am …I am comfortable discussing," Nizuki shuddered then put on another radiant smile. "No, you see there are many different methods of angelic guidance and many durations of guidance and for you it has been decided that a more…OBVIOUS guide need be introduced."

"Oh…well is that…a good thing?" Ryou asked.

"It can be. It's a special privilege to actually know you are amidst members of the Heavenly Host," Nizuki smiled in way that had very little to do with any mortal feelings. "In your case it might be especially good as it will remind you of the fundamental differences between magic spell and miracles."

"Huh? Magic spell and…well…I mean aside from the invocations and such aren't…aren't all summoning of power the same?" Ryou asked with the blandness that could only come from someone who'd spent most of his life dabbling in strange magic.

"Silver clouds, no!" Nizuki said her wings flittering anxiously, "miracles happen in direct relation to saving a person's life, or making their lives better, spells …well spells are tricks, completely amoral manipulations of power that pretend to be grand things but are really hollow and can distract from the final goal."

"Final…goal?" Ryou asked as he nibbled on another waffle.

"Uh how to explain this," Nizuki said tapping one finger against her lips, "the final goal …well…The Final Goal is the fulfillment. It is the ultimate establishment of a heavenly bliss in your life that leads you on to happy, contented choices for the entirety of your mortal life."

Ryou poked his waffle with his fork distractedly, "well then I guess you'll be sticking around for a long time then, won't you? I can't be much of anything with a yami like Bakura;" Ryou looked up blinking owlishly, "wait, where is Bakura?"

"The white-haired creep?" Nizuki scowled with surprising brutality, "after detaching him from the little lady I sent him to sleep off his beer in the attic."

"THE ATTIC!" Ryou yelped jumping up, "he's not going to be happy when he gets up, I better go get him!"

"Oh no, you don't! It's not like he's locked in there or anything. He'll wake up with a planted memory of sneaking in through the attic window so as not to wake you up," Nizuki said with another dismissive wave. "So don't bother with him and stop interrupting me when I have other rules to explain."

"What other rules?" Ryou asked as he anxiously forced himself back to his seat.

"Just more rules. I don't make em I just recite em," Nizuki said. "As I was saying being a physically appearing angel is non-typical and it demands certain precautions. The first of which is that you do NOT tell people that I am an angel. Well…other than Yugi who already knows of course."

"Um…why not?"

"It's a long debate that goes into issues of Free Will and Self-Determination and what not," Nizuki waved her hand dismissively once more. "That's all above your pay-grade, so to speak, so you don't have to worry about it. The important thing is that you don't introduce me as your angel…you can…call me your relative. Yes, a relative who's come for a holiday."

"A relative…with wings?" Ryou rolled his eyes.

"Ryou, sarcasm is an interruption too. But yes, I can disguise my wings when I need to," Nizuki said, "I can also change shape entirely when I find that necessary and I can also perform a few mini-miracles as needed including using a form of telepathy that you are already familiar with in your communication with Bakura."

"Oh! Really…wow!" Ryou smiled with true geeky pleasure. He'd always loved the supernatural aspects of being Bakura's hikari even if the man himself tended to be a little…aggressive with those tools.

(**A/N:** Delicate way of saying that Ryou doesn't really hold a grudge for the body-puppet incidents Bakura pulled over on him)

"Yes, and I-" Nizuki started to move on when suddenly Ryou's cell-phone rang. Nizuki groaned as she obviously still hadn't gotten to what she wanted to say yet but she didn't seem to begrudge Ryou for taking the call.

"Moshi-moshi…Oh! Oh ya…um the arcade …no, I mean yes I think I'll be going it's just-" Ryou looked over at Nizuki in concern.

:/Oh silver clouds, what are you looking at me like that for? I'm NOT here to stand in the way of your life!/: Nizuki's voice rolled through Ryou's mind like sunlight.

"You…you wouldn't mind?" Ryou asked.

:/Not at all…I need to go and look in on Nero anyway. I will see you again soon, my Ryou/: Nizuki just rolled her eyes before suddenly fading out of sight.

Ryou never dropped his phone in shock then quickly recovered and apologized to the fairly freaked out Yugi on the other end.

"Sorry, sorry I'm fine. That was just…I-I mean I was just…I'll talk to you about it when I get there Yugi. Just you."

Ryou didn't waste another moment talking and he ended the call. A ridiculously giddy sensation was bubbling up in his chest and a truly brilliant grin spread across his face.

"I have my own angel."

**SCENE CHANGE**

Yugi-tachi mingled around, what to them, was the holy-shrine of all Saturday excursions; it was the only place that the entire group was willing to juggle their schedules to visit. It was the Domino City Arcade. Since about the second day after Yami and Bakura had been granted new bodies the entire gang –well, minus the tomb-robber actually-had been coming to this arcade to compete and converse as only real gamers could.

Even the increased work-load that had kept most of Yugi's friends at all other corners of Domino were set aside for Saturday games. It was inexcusable for anyone of the group to not show up, no matter what the excuse. Yugi had left Nero at the house alone rather than miss this meeting.

Unfortunately, though the Saturday excursion was a pseudo-sacred weekly commencement in theory…certain members of their group were slowly chipping away at that idea with repeated absences.

"Where the hell is Yami?" Honda asked looking at his wristwatch for the hundredth time.

"I don't know; he said he'd catch up with us," Yugi frowned. He rubbed his chest against that same icy sensation and tried to steel himself against the thought of Yami breaking their one unbreakable tradition.

"What did Anzu ambush him in the shower of something?" Joey tried to relax the group's collective nerves with a joke. Honda and Otogi snickered but Yugi simply whipped around so that no one would see him blush.

He didn't Joey to know how close that mark came to the truth. Yami would never hear the end of the boys' heckling if they even suspected it.

"If Anzu keeps up this whole puppy-on-a-leash thing were gonna be in serious risk of losing our game-king!" Joey snorted, tromping all over Yugi's delicate avoidance of the subject.

Honda choked in shock and Yugi smacked his forehead with his hand.

"Ironic choice of phrase _inu_," Seto interjected, distracting everyone from the unspoken truth yet again.

Joey's face went completely red as it usually did when Seto called him a dog.

"WHO ASKED YOU TO COME ANYWAY?" the blonde yelled. Seto just smirked darkly.

"Good morning guys!" Ryou called out to the group as he ran over from the nearest bus-stop

"Hey Ryou," Yugi smiled.

"Morning," Honda said distracted as he continued to look down the street for Yami.

"Good morning Ryou," Seto and Joey said at the same time, causing them to glare at one another again.

Ryou smiled weakly at that with a sweat drop on his head. He then walked over to Yugi.

"Uh Yugi," he asked said teen. Yugi looked curiously at him.

"I said I wanted to talk to you and um…can we…talk?" Ryou thumbed over his shoulder in the direction of the shrub-wall that separated Domino Arcade from the neighboring restaurant. That same shrub was notorious for hiding any number of dubious teenage actions from the security cameras of either the arcade or the restaurant.

Yugi followed the white-haired boy into the shady space behind the greenery then tilted his head encouragingly in Ryou's direction when the boy seemed to have trouble beginning.

"Uh well err you're not going to believe this but…um…well you know how you have Nero?"

"Well yes," Yugi bit his lip to hold back any sarcasm.

"Yes well um…you see the thing is…uuuhhh now I have one too…a-an angel I mean…a girl-angel actually."

"WHAT!" Yugi yelled so loud he was afraid someone might burst in. The two boys waited for a moment and when no one stormed in to ask about the noise Yugi adjusted his voice and began again. "I-I mean what? How's that possible?"

"I don't know, she just showed up, says her name is Nizuki."

"WHHAAAT!" Yugi yelled again this time a butler from the neighboring restaurant poked his head in to shush the boys. Yugi didn't care though and his face almost split in half from grinning.

"Ryou that's so cool! Nero has a friend named Nizuki, you must have been the protectorate she was almost late to get."

"Oh yes she did mention that!" Ryou smiled and then blinked, "…so…what am I supposed to do?"

"Hey, I only found an angel in my attic, that doesn't make me an expert," Yugi said holding his hands up in front of him in a don't-drag-me-into-anything type of way.

"HEY GUYS!" Joey's voice echoed over to the two, "YAMI FINALLY GOT HERE SO NOW WE CAN GO IN, COME ON!"

"Well I know this is exciting but …. Let's just try and forget about this for now, OK?" Ryou bargained. "After all we've gone this long without blowing the secret; it would be a shame if we ruined it before things got really interesting."

While Yugi was rather dubious of the word 'interesting' when it came to anything remotely supernatural, he found himself feeling strangely protective of the little angel that was living in his attic.

"Right, we'll just act like everything is completely normal," Yugi agreed. "Or…you know…what passes for normal in our group."

"Yes…though Lord knows exactly what THAT is."

**SCENE CHANGE**

Nero sighed out of sheer boredom and stared longingly out the attic window.

"What are you looking at?" a familiar voice asked from behind him.

Nero squeaked rather unbecomingly of an immortal being and spun around to see Nizuki climbing up the attic stairs.

Private property was something the blonde neither understood nor respected.

"Nizuki! What you doing here? Why aren't you with Yugi's friend, Ryou?" Nero yelped.

"Hey, hey don't panic," Nizuki laughed gently at Nero's expression, "I came here to help you with Yugi's wish."

"You are?" Nero blinked. The little angel then broke into a hundred watt smile, "REALLY! OH THANK YOU NIZUKI-ONEE!"

Nizuki just shrugged looking around the attic as she revealed her plan.

"Well as we both know Yugi's wish is what he cannot see and therefore cannot wish for. And therein lies the problem…" Nizuki paused in her lecture to look around the attic. "Huh…this collection seems vaguely familiar…is your protectorate some kind of Indiana Jones fan…or something."

"Who Indiana Jones-san?" Nero stared at his sibling angel in confusion.

"Oh he's this movie character that's always…" Nizuki caught herself with a cough. "Uh never mind…it just reminded me of another case for a moment. "But now let's get back to the problem of Yugi's wish."

"What is the problem?" Nero asked, sitting down on the window seat with his knees tucked into his chest and his head on his knees.

"Well, it's obvious isn't it," Nizuki said looking expectantly at Nero. Said angel's face scrunched up in thought.

"If…if Yugi-sama doesn't know what he wants…then I won't know what he wants either?" he said after a few minutes.

"Bingo!" Nizuki said, "But never fear for I have taken that into consideration."

"What we gonna do?" Nero asked blinking cutely.

"We are going to hang out with our protectorates; we will observe them in action in their world and will extrapolate from their reactions and their non-reaction exactly where their spirits need help."

"Leave the attic!" Nero yelped jumping to his feet, his good wing flittering like crazy, "b-but Yugi- sama said for Nero to stay-"

Nizuki put a single finger on Nero's nose as method to slow him down.

"Hey, this is for 'Yugi-sama's' own good. Plus no one will know what we are."

"…How?" Nero asked.

"Hey, remember I'm a graduated angel here," Nizuki grinned mischievously as she stretched her fingers and snapped her wings. "You just stand still and let me work my heavenly-given powers.

**SCENE CHANGE**

Yami sighed in annoyance as he watched yet another DDR player collapse into a bone-less heap and fall off the machine.

While the utter lack of worthy gamers was depressing, that wasn't what was annoying him. What was annoying was the fact that his girlfriend was clinging to his arm so fiercely that he could barely walk let alone attempt to play any of the arcade-games.

"Uh Anzu…koi, could you let go of my arm?" Yami asked as politely as he could.

"Oh why would I want to do that, koibito?" Anzu sighed dreamily and snuggled her head against the sensitive skin of Yami's neck. Normally this would be erotic but for some reason right now it was only annoying.

/Because my arm is about to fall off moron!/ Yami thought, rather unkindly for his usual sappy love of all things Gardener. /Gods above, don't you get enough of me with your molestations every morning?/

/Yami?/ Yugi asked, looking strangely at his other.

/Uh …nothing aibou/ Yami replied embarrassedly.

/Oh-Kay/ Yugi said hesitantly.

The hikari was about to offer a suggestion that maybe his other could take off his obviously clinging –Yugi couldn't PRETEND he didn't hear that much— girlfriend by offering to compete in a game of DDR when a strange energy rolled through the arcade and a small rush of whispering filled the air.

"Whoa who are those two?" someone asked.

"I've never seen them before, I'd know if I had because that girl is too HOT to miss!" another someone said.

"Oh and look at that little guy he's so cute! Such big green eyes!" a girl sighed.

'No way,' Yugi thought, 'she couldn't mean…Nero…a-and Nizuki?'

Yugi gulped and turned around. At that exact moment the crowd parted enough for Yugi to see that the crowd was indeed talking about the two angelic beings.

The only thing that saved him from breaking into full panic-mode, however, was that he noticed how utterly human the two celestials had managed to make themselves appear.

Nizuki had changed from old robes into a pair of tight fit jeans, a white sweater with the word angel written in kanji, and a brown leather jacket, with matching brown leather-ish boots. It was a tough look that went along well with the smash-and-rescue style that Yugi had already started to associate with her. However, the angel somehow managed to retain a decidedly girly aura as she blushed at the reaction she was causing and fiddled with the jeweled ear-cuff she wore like a toddle might fuss with a security-blanket

Nero had also been changed into decidedly human clothes, though his were almost decidedly not leather. (**A/N:**Nizuki's small favor to her nose-bleed prone protectorate)

Dressed in a pair of black denim jeans and a red cotton t-shit with half-length sleeves, Nero looked a little bit more like a fourteen or fifteen year old, though a decidedly naïve one. The cherub's hair was still as curly and wavy as ever yet a small portion of it was pulled back into a little pigtail that rested on Nero's neck…or it would've been lying against Nero's neck if the angel were standing still rather than bouncing gleefully from foot to foot while gazing eagerly at all the machines.

"Tenshi-chan!" Ryou hissed nervously, reminding Yugi of how very bad it was that the angels were here, no matter how cute or how cool they looked in mortal disguises.

"Um maybe they won't see us?" Yugi said unbelievingly.

Yugi should've known better than to say anything. He should've remembered his weird relationship with The Great Universal Spirit of Irony which had been kicking his life around since he was eleven-years-old and he first found the Millennium Puzzle.

However, Yugi was an idiot about this sort of thing so he DID speak, and of course, Nero heard him from across the entire length of the arcade over all the whispering arcade patrons.

"YUGI-SAMA!" Nero shouted happily and began to dash through the crowd.

Nizuki, bless her overly experienced little wings, tried to grab Nero and hold him back. Unfortunately the older angel wasn't quite as galvanized towards her goal as Nero was and as a result Nero moved that much faster and he dove through the crowds to tackle Yugi in a glomp that put all other grapple-hugs to shame.

"Ne-ROOOWW!" Yugi tried to scold before the angel's weight and crushing arm-strength combine to send Yugi to the floor.

"Yugi-'tNizukimakemeagooddisguise-" Nero was trying to explain everything in a single breath.

Yugi awkwardly patted the angel's shoulder, trying to gain the angel's attention before the cherub unintentionally caused him to asphyxiate. Unfortunately, Nero didn't seem to notice and Yugi was beginning to see oxygen-deprived stars at the corners of his eyes.

Luckily, before Yugi had much time to contemplate whether or not Death-By-Angel-Hug was a good explanation to give St. Peter at the pearly-gate, his life was saved by the timely arrival of Honda and Joey.

"YUGI!" the two muscular teenager shouted and wrenched Nero's arms off of Yugi's now-severally bruised ribs.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair," Yugi croaked happily as he took in a deep breath.

While he was busy doing that Nizuki had finally managed to make her way through the gauntlet of gamers towards the group. She gave Ryou an apologetic pat on the shoulder then walked right up to where Honda and Joey still had Nero held up off the floor and she whacked Nero sharply across the back of the head.

"You IDIOT! At what point were you planning on letting Yugi breathe, huh?"

"I was too strong?" Nero blinked innocently.

"Yah, way, WAY too strong," Nizuki groaned and shook her head. "Don't you realize you only have to use a tiny fraction of your full strength when dealing with a-"

"Aaaaaah, guys! You're here! I'm glad you were able to find the arcade on your own," Ryou dove into this awkwardly out-of-control conversation before any angelic secrets could be spilled.

Nizuki looked over at her protectorate in slight bemusement –as the angel probably had been fully aware of her words—then flashed a semi-theatric smile and wrapped her arms affectionately, though less constrictively, around the boy's waist.

"I'm sorry we were late Ry-Ry, I'd mean to get Nero ready and sneak him into the group without disruption but he got a little overexcited. Tourists, you know?"

"Wait, Ryou, you know these psychopaths?" Honda asked as he let go of Nero's arm and stalked over to give Nizuki what should have been a threatening glare.

Even half-conscious, Yugi had to suppress a laugh at the idea of Honda trying to grapple with an angel. Biblical examples completely to the side, Honda was no match for celestial beings that could nearly kill humans with overly-affectionate hugs.

"Oh uhh yes I know these two," Ryou continued to lie with surprising ease. "This girl is Nizuki, my um relative …w-who came for a holiday."

Yami, who had finally managed to detach himself from Anzu so that he could help Yugi get back on his feet, snorted loudly at Ryou's words and turned around to glower empirically at Nizuki.

"What kind of relative are you that you couldn't be bothered to arrive alongside Ryou?" he stabbed at the angel's cover-story.

Nizuki looked Yami up and down then with sarcastic confusion she asked, "So is it a crime for me to go off on my own? I mean you don't spend all your time with Yugi do you?"

Yami looked really angry like he was about to punch her, "and how would YOU know THAT?"

"Simple; Nero knows Yugi and I know Nero," Nizuki said with a semi-wicked grin

"Yah I'm Yugi's-" Nizuki yelped and smacked a hand over Nero's mouth.

"Heh-heh Nero please remember what I told you; you know about what's proper to say and what's not?" Nizuki said her face strained into a very big very nervous grin. While she'd obviously trusted herself not to push the conversation over the line of what was believable, she didn't trust Nero's discretion to that same extent.

Yugi's sore ribs definitely agreed with her on that one.

"Nero is just a friend," Yugi said as he took Nero out of Joey's grasp and affectionately straightened out the boy's shirt, "so you can all quit glaring at him."

Joey looked anxiously between Yugi and Nero and didn't say anything. Honda shrugged as he didn't care one way or another as long as everyone was alright, and the rest of the gathered group turned to Yami for the royal opinion on Nero's involvement in the Saturday games.

"Yugi, you-" Yami started to gear up for what was probably going to be another 'for your own good' lecture.

For once, though, Yugi couldn't stomach the idea of being lectured by his hypocritical other and he took hold of Nero's arm and led him off towards the café.

"Come on Nero, you and Nizuki have to tell us about how your morning went," Yugi said meaningfully.

Ryou looked at Yugi with slight confusion then nodded affirmatively at turned to Nizuki. Fortunately the older angel was a little bit faster on the uptake than Ryou and she was already following after the duo.

"Ah yes um…w-we'll be right back," Ryou bowed to the rest of the group before dashing off.

Yami remained in place for a long moment, utterly shocked at his aibou's atypical behavior. Before he could start complaining, however, Seto challenged him to a game of air-hockey and the game king's focus went back to the more familiar realm of competition.

**SCENECHANGE**

Yugi and Ryou charged though the partition between the arcade floor and the small restaurant it was connected to. They stormed past the butler who'd shushed them early and forced their angels into a table.

"Okay what are you doing here?" Yugi demanded as he took the chair across from Nero. Ryou, a little less authoritatively, took the seat across from Nizuki.

Nero and Nizuki looked contemplatively at each other as only old friends could. Nero then smiled pleadingly and Nizuki sighed and nodded.

"Oh very well then I'LL explain. Nero and I came to study you two," Nizuki sighed.

"Study? What do you mean, don't you already have those um Soul File…things?" Ryou asked.

"I have those Soul Files because I'm your protectorate but Nero is only Yugi's beneficiary so he needs all the help he can get…and I mean ALLLL the help he can get," Nizuki smiled teasingly over at the little angel.

"Yes…and sorry about hug," Nero blushed prettily at Yugi.

Yugi really wanted to be unaffected by that look, the same way he really wanted to not care about looking after someone else's celestial secret. However, just like before Yugi found himself helpless to do anything but like the little angel.

"But you…and you…uuuuh," Yugi sighed in defeat.

"Trust us, we aren't doing this to make trouble…hmmmm though you have to admit Yami's face DID take on a deliciously stupefied expression," Nizuki sighed dreamily.

"What does Yami have to do with anything?" Yugi asked though he strangely felt himself blushing and he grabbed his chest delicately.

Both Nero and Nizuki looked at Yugi's hand briefly before they both smiled and shook their heads.

"We not know enough yet. We just hang out for while until we DO know something, okay Yugi-sama?" Nero suggested.

Yugi blushed and nodded while Ryou took his turn at groaning uselessly.

"This is going to be a looooong Saturday."

**Yami Masaka:** Heh-heh looks like a certain pharaoh is jealous

**Yami:** Yugi is MY aibou! Why the heck should he be running around with that abusive…abusive TODDLER?

**Masaka: pouting on the floor**

**Nero:** What's wrong Masaka?

**Masaka: **You were cuter when you didn't know so much, Nero

**Nero: *stupefied*** I know stuff this editing?

**Yugi: *rubbing his sore ribs***Certainly not how to control your strength THAT'S for sure

**Nizuki: pops out of nowhere** Huh…wow what's this place?

**Masaka:** The authoress notes

**Nizuki:** Uh…cool! **wanders around looking star-struck**


	6. REWRITE CHAPTER SIX

**CHAPTER SIX: DDR Stands for Doomed Dancers Revolting**

**Masaka:** AHHHHH **wide starry eyes** I got another gift **places a pixie stick on a velvet cushion on a Greek like pillar under a glass case under a spotlight**

**Yami Masaka:** COME ON! **crosses arms and grumbles** it's just a stupid pixie stick

**Masaka:** You're just mad because I won't let you eat it

**Yami Masaka: sobbing** HOW CAN YOU BE SO CRUEL AS TO SEPARATE A YAMI FROM HER SUGAR?

**Nizuki:** Hey where's Yami? Weren't you and he fighting in the last chapter?

**Yami Masaka:** Ya well he said he had to go to some other authoress notes

**Masaka:** OTHER authoress! HE'S DOUBLE TIMING ON HIS MUSE DUTIES?

**Nizuki and Yami Masaka: sweat drop** oh no

**Masaka:** Come on girls! Let's go Yami hunting **picks up a giant blow torch**

**Yami Masaka:** Uh aibou? Not that I'm against this wonderful display of blood but don't you have a chapter to write?

**Masaka: sighs in a depressed tone** ya I guess you're right **throws blow torch over her shoulder where it explodes killing a cat **

**Nizuki:** You know I never did understand why flying objects is always blowing up cats

**Yami Masaka:** I don't understand why my aibou let's that stupid ex-pharaoh into the authoress notes

**Masaka:** He's a muse! Besides when I get into the deeper chapters and he gets more jealous we can rag on him

**Yami Masaka:** OH YAH! That sounds great! **smiles devilishly **

**Nizuki:** Please note the changed roles in this chapter! Masaka has been very diligent about going back through her story and working out some of the chapters that she was dissatisfied with! There is a lot of plot in this story as it deals with two couples, an angel plot, a demon plot, two dates, a club and a lot of original characters!

**Masaka:** BUT I STILL WHIP ANZU'S BUTT IN THIS CHAPTER!

Yami, despite all the faults of his upbringing, was a fairly magnanimous spirit. He was not one to interfere in the lifestyles of his friends by imposing his will on them. However, even though he wouldn't FORCE anything to listen to him, the ex-pharaoh was rather USED TO his friends listening to him.

It was simply that Yami wasn't used to being ignored that he was fantasizing about sending shadow-hounds after the little brat who'd swaned away with his other-half like they were in on a secret together. That was the only reason Yami liked the idea of hell-hounds chomping away at those stupid brown and gold curls on that infantile little head.

Unfortunately, Yami's friends didn't seem to understand that it was just the 'unusual nature' of Yugi's avoidance that was bothering him and Joey actually reached out and patted Yami's shoulder as if the blond thought that Yami was genuinely upset.

"Sorry dude, that must've been kinda painful, huh?" Joey smiled sympathetically.

"What are you talking about?" Yami huffed.

"He's talking about how Yugi just flaunted his boyfriend under your nose, sweetums," Anzu smiled a little less sympathetically. Yami didn't have much time to analyze the difference however because Joey started to choke slightly the moment Anzu said the word 'boyfriend.'

"Take a breath _inu-baka_, or else you'll end up passing out," Seto sneered particularly viciously, though heaven only knew why.

"Uuuuuh not to uh, ya know, say anything bad about…well I mean…" Honda started to speak up awkwardly. Fortunately Otogi –who was actually quite close to Honda when they weren't snarling at each-other in romantic rivalry—seemed to pick up on what Honda was trying to say and stepped into the conversation.

"What Honda is trying to say is that suggesting that this Nero kid is Yugi's boyfriend after just barley meeting the kid is kind of dangerous, you know? I mean we all know that Ryou is as fruity as they come—" Joey blanched again but nodded encouragingly enough despite himself "—and we all love him still but Yugi has never shows any indication that he's…well gay."

"Oh you don't think so?" Anzu fluttered her lashes innocently as she ran her fingers through her hair. "I'd always thought the hints were pretty obvious."

"What hints?" Yami asked critically. Anzu seemed a little flustered by Yami's interest because she didn't answer right away. Honda took the opportunity to finally get his opinions out on the table.

"They only hugged, they might not be dating. Yugi IS a pop-culture god after all."

"Yes, but would Yugi really allow one of his rabid fans to get so close to him?" Seto snorted. "I mean after some of the more 'extreme' acts of affection that were sent his way—"

"Uh earth-to-Kaiba," Joey interrupted with a highly mocking eye-roll. "Most of those acts of utter fangirldom were aimed at YAMI not YUGI."

Yami coughed embarrassedly while Anzu just snarled and grabbed hold of Yami's arm again. The girl never had responded well in the face of romantic rivalry but lately it seemed to have gotten much worse."

"I was not suggesting this kid is the same as those idiots that would dunk themselves in chocolate body-paint and hide in his locker," Seto shrugged unemotionally as he reminded the group of the last actual act of extreme fandom that had happened before the duelist fever had mellowed. "I'm only suggesting that maybe this kid has some sort of interest in Yugi that goes beyond just friendship."

"Oh right, I forgot you were the expert on these sorts of things Seto 'I've-got-a-new-stalker-every-week' Kaiba," Joey tried to laugh dismissively.

Unfortunately it wasn't insulting enough that Seto couldn't immediately come back with another insult: "Some of us can't repel the opposite-sex with the talent you can, pup."

Joey flushed and trembled as if holding himself back. Honda and Otogi moved into position on either side of the blond just to make sure there was a plan B when Joey's willpower against decking the billionaire failed.

Yami cleared his throat and was about to lecture the two boys about mutual respect when Anzu pulled his attention back to her with a tug of the arm.

"If you want to know what's going on with our little gamer, Yugi-koi, you should just ask him. He's coming back this way," Anzu said in her sticky-sweet-gagging-tone, that usually meant she was scheming something.

However, Yami couldn't really find any fault with Anzu's plan either so he waited patiently for Yugi to come back with his little potential boyfriend/stalker in toe –as well as Ryou and his equally mysterious though strangely not as threatening relative-.

"Sorry guys, I just had to clear something up with Nero," Yugi smiled sheepishly.

"And I had to ask Nizuki a few things as well," Ryou said.

"Whatever, I'm going to get some tokens," Joey said darkly as he tugged his jacket up around his ears and marched away.

Honda and Otogi looked at each other and then looked meaningfully at Yami. Yami rolled his eyes and the two and motioned them to follow.

"Uhhh…did we miss something?" Nizuki asked uncomfortably.

"Yes, what is token that Joey is needing?" Nero asked innocently, having completely missed the point of interest.

Nizuki groaned and slapped a hand over her eyes while Ryou just laughed.

"Uh Nero, I think Nizuki was referring to the way half of our group is storming off, not the tokens," Yugi explained gently.

"OOOOOH! Well I thought that was obviously just 'cuz your friends is upset with you maybe having boyfriend," Nero said with a bluntness that made the intelligence of his statement that much more confusing.

"Well aren't you just a little unsuspecting ball of genius," Anzu grinned unkindly down at the little angel. "You knew exactly how you messed up things didn't you?"

Nero gulped slightly and clung to Yugi's arm trying to hide himself away behind the boy. In reaction Yugi took a half-step in front of Nero and glowered at Anzu in a way that Yami wasn't sure he liked.

"Aibou, I think we'd just like to know what's going on is all," Yami tried to call out calmingly.

Yugi blinked in confusion then looked at his position and blushed. Behind him Nizuki smirked and fiddled slightly with her ear-cuff.

"I-I-I'm sooo sorry," Yugi flushed and bowed at the couple. "I-I don't know what I was-"

Before anything else could be said, however, a giant crash sounded out from the direction of the arcade where Joey had just walked off to and everyone's attention was immediately turned around.

Per usual of this particular arcade someone had managed to pitch themselves over the railing of the DDR machine and had fallen into the crowd. Unfortunately this kid was a little bit heftier than the usual dancer and instead of just bouncing off a slightly annoyed bystander the idiot had managed to flatten Otogi.

"Oh jeez are you alright!" Yugi leapt into action even though Honda and Joey were already on the job.

Ryou looked on as Yugi helped the dice-master straighten himself out with a gloomy look that was hard to interpret.

/If you want to help…you should just get over there/ Nizuki said delicately into her protectorate's thoughts.

Ryou jolted slightly and looked over at the angel with a serious blush. /I-I was just… I-I mean I'm not really all that strong and I uh…/

/It wouldn't hurt to try/ Nizuki smiled encouragingly.

Ryou nodded and walked over to the kid who had fallen off the DDR machine. He bent down to say an encouraging word about everyone taking a fall sometimes when suddenly Anzu marched over –easily pushing Ryou out of the way—and hauled the hefty boy up to his feet.

"Well wasn't that dumb of you," the girl laughed in a way that was a little too cruel to be mistaken as an affectionate jab. "Don't you know a guy you're weight should try to do something as light-footed as dancing?"

Ryou looked back at his angel just in time to see the girl's eyes flare brilliant gold.

"Hey An-" the angel started.

"Hey Masaki, lay off the kid will you?" Kaiba interrupted before the divine creature could get her wrath up and going. "Not everyone is training to be a professional dancer like you are."

"Oh I wasn't being mean," Anzu fluttered her eyelashes disarmingly. She then smiled down at the weighty teenager. "Was I being mean?"

"I…I guess not…"the large player said hesitantly. "Um…I-I think I'll just go now."

"You do that," Anzu smirked as the player wandered off into the crowd.

"Uuuugh I think I actually heard by ribs cracking," Otogi moaned and leaned heavily against Joey. Joey blushed and shoved the dice-master off onto Honda's less objecting shoulder.

"Hey come on, if Yugi can take the glomp-from-hell I think you'll survive an encounter with the DDR Spill-Over," Honda laughed.

"Dee-Dee-Arr?" the two angels asked at the same time.

"It stands for Dance Dance Revolution. It's a competitive dance game which is usually quite harmless…except that the amateurs who set up this place botched the job and used overly-slick plastics for the platform," Seto explained passively.

The angels just looked more confused.

"You just step on the arrows on that pad when they show up on the bottom of the screen," Anzu said over her shoulder, "it's easy enough but you have to have talent to do it with any grace at all."

"Hmm," Nizuki smiled cunningly, "sounds interesting."

"Sounds like something Nizuki-chan would be great at!" Nero cheered as well.

"I do have a bit of experience in this type of thing don't I," Nizuki groaned, suddenly not proud at all.

Anzu frowned slightly, "Didn't either of you hear what I just said? Only people with supreme grace should attempt that game, otherwise you look stupid and you slip off."

"Nizuki-chan is very graceful," Nero said still tucked into Yugi's arms, slightly, "if anyone could win that game Nizuki could, she's better than any professional."

THAT made Anzu angry. She spun around and glared straight right at Nizuki. Nizuki looked back rather embarrassed and slightly worried.

"So you think you BETTER than everyone else?" Anzu snapped.

"What? No! I mean I never said-"

"You think you're better than me? You think you don't need the years of dance lessons to become as good as I have?" Anzu snarled even more darkly.

"No, listen Nero was just…I don't even LIKE dancing for-"

"Well you are DEAD wrong little miss prissy, and I'll prove it."

Nizuki looked entirely uncomfortable with the situation but at the same time was starting to get a rather dangerous annoyed glint in her eye that Ryou recognized from his first encounter with her.

"Listen, I'm sure you are very good and-"

"GOOD? HA!" Anzu snipped, "I'm one-hundred times the dancer you'll ever be!"

(A/n: **Yami Masaka:** Why won't that bimbo shut up and listen to Nizuki? **Masaka:** Uh...cuz if she did the plot-point would be ruined? **Yami Masaka:** Good point)

"Okay!" Nizuki wailed, trying to move back to Ryou's side away from the growling brunette. "You are obviously confident in your skills that I should be a threat so I'm just going to take Ry over to the change-machine now and-

"OH! You think you're too good to even except my challenge now?" Anzu growled.

"PMS," Joey muttered to a very-wide-eyed Yami.

The ex-pharaoh just shook his head slightly. He knew his girlfriend pretty well and he knew her temperament was much calmer than this. Something about Ryou's new friend must have just rubbed against her the wrong way…which was in itself very odd. He got the impression that this Nizuki person was just the type of strong, confident, go-getter that Anzu had often declared she wanted in a female friend.

(A/N: in the Kaiba Land tournament Anzu whines about wanting female friends like six times! Over several episodes but still… I kinda felt sorry for her at first…then it just got redundant)

"Listen girly, you are reaching the limits of my patience. First with the unnecessary insults-" Nizuki growled with a hint of her divine intensity creeping into her voice.

"Oooooh so now you think I'm not even qualified to advise AMATEURS, is that it!" Anzu sneered. "You think you are such a great mover then prove it! I challenge you to a DDR game! I'll let everyone see that I am the better dancer."

"SILVER CLOUDS! OKAY! OKAY MISS! Sheesh! I don't even know you…why…" Nizuki's voice trailed off as she looked more critically at the dancer. Her growing anger tampered off and a mysterious smirk rolled across her lips.

Though the angel could have probably lifted the entire arcade off its foundations if she'd wanted, Nizuki let the enraged brunette dancer dragged her over to the token dispenser then back over to the DDR machine.

/Tenshi-chan! What are you doing!/ Ryou snapped.

/Apparently I'm getting dragged into a competition…unless you think you can convince her to stop?/ Nizuki said with a tinge of hope at the end of her sentence.

Ryou puffed up his chest and turned to Anzu but once look at the rage burning in the girl's eyes and the boy just stumbled back to where the boys were gathering to watch the show.

/It's okay Ry-Ry/ Nizuki smiled warily at her protectorate. /I really don't like this sort of thing but…well I can make this work to my advantage./

/I'm so sorry/ Ryou grimaced and held himself tightly.

Nizuki's eyes flashed with gold and her voice got deep and inhumanely serene. /Don't apologize when you are at your limit. There is nothing wrong with accepting your weaknesses/

Ryou just hung his head sadly and Nizuki filed that look away for later analysis. For this moment, however, the angel was much more interested in the possessed dancer who had just strong-armed her way to the front of the DDR line.

"Oh Anzu! Before we begin, I was wondering if I could ask you something," Nizuki said her angelic air hiding the retribution that was about to strike the brown- haired woman down.

"What?" Anzu huffed agitatedly as she let go of Nizuki's wrist and began adjusting her super slinky skirt higher on her hips for the game.

"I was thinking…dancing to prove who is better is kind of… well…I don't really see the draw in that. Why don't we make the match interesting and put a few stakes on this?" Nizuki offered.

"…I'm listening," Anzu said, her own eyes seeming to flash a little red under the harsh fluorescent light.

'Gotcha,' Nizuki smirked. Her brilliant case-solving mind whirled into gear and she quickly assessed what should happen next. Her eyes drifted over to where Yami was glancing between his girlfriend and his aibou with varied degrees of concern and agitation.

"Nizuki-chan what-" Nero began to ask; Nizuki simply held up a hand signaling Nero to just wait and see.

"Well it shouldn't be money. Money is just as petty as pride in a challenge. Instead if I win, you aren't allowed near Yami for the entire day," Nizuki smiled innocently.

"And if I win?" Anzu glared as her aura seeming to swell in rage at the very idea of being parted from her lover.

"If you win, you get this from me," Nizuki said holding out her hand. In her palm rested her most treasured ear-cuff.

"Why in God's name-" the two angel's shuddered "-would I want your stupid costume jewelry?"

"This coming from the girlfriend of the owner of the Millennium Puzzle," Nizuki snickered.

"That's different," Tea snorted and crossed her arms.

'I have a bad feeling about this…but then again if I'm right I can save more than just Yugi when I step into this situation,' Nizuki thought to herself before smiling and flipping her hair over her shoulder in a deliberate mocking of Anzu's earlier hair-toss.

"This token happens to be a source of great magic. It's like…well it's what gives me my sharp-edge. It's part of my allure and my strength…like a precious lucky-charm or holy totem…I'd suppose that it magic could…bolster…some magic of yours…perhaps?"

At first Anzu looked shocked and suspicious but then she looked deeper at the ruby and smiled greedily. Nizuki knew the ballerina saw its raw-power and potential. She herself sometimes wondered why the Great Powers had given this object to her in the first place. She knew it was very important and had heard that it was the one thing that had held her mind together since her one screw-up case way back when but…

Whatever the case the angel decided it didn't matter, Anzu was hooked already.

Anzu reached worriedly to her purse and stroked something within the leather tote. She then shook herself out of her daze and with a sinister grin stood up straight and declared, "OK then Nizuki Bakura (1), you got yourself a deal."

Nizuki smiled and her eyes flashed even more brilliantly gold, "Excellent."

"HEY! WAIT A SECOND!" Yami yelled, "You're betting ME against THAT are you?"

Anzu's face went bright red, "I've got my reasons, Yami-kooooooi. And besides I just want to get the terms over with so we can get on with this, I won't lose."

Yami frowned sadly. Yugi could sympathize; he wouldn't like being betted upon either.

(A/N: Something Yami seems to forget every few duels …Marik…Dartz…the list is rather impressive if short)

"Nizuki!" Nero yelled, bursting from his protected place at Yugi's side to run up to the machine. "Nizuki this is too much! You really shouldn't-"

Nizuki put a finger over Nero's lips, "Shh Nero this will all work into our goals."

Nero sighed and backed down, he knew from experience that once you get Nizuki angered you better hope that a leader-angel, God, or another highly powered being was looking after you.

"Good luck then Nizuki-chan," Nero sighed.

Nizuki smiled and gave the boy a small sign on encouragement (2). She then took off her thick combat boots and stood up.

"You dance bare-foot?" Tea sneered.

"I have a bit of an aversion to dancing in complex foot-gear…some bad ballroom dancing memories and whatnot," Nizuki replied honestly.

Nero snickered slightly from the sidelines until Nizuki glowered at him.

"Whatever, I'll beat you no matter what you do," Anzu grinned boastfully.

"If you don't fall off the damn machine first," Seto said casually, reminding the group of what he'd said earlier about the machine being poorly installed.

"God I cannot WAIT until you get your arcade open again so we don't have to deal with these newbies anymore," Anzu snarled as she took off her own high-heels. No one missed the way the girl's eyes had flashed at Nizuki when she'd said the word 'newbies.'

Nizuki surprisingly didn't react except to gently put Anzu's designer heels next to her very plain boots.

"Okay this is just plain weird," Honda said scratching his chin, "I mean isn't it always Joey who hops into things without thinking it through?"

"Yah," Joey said, "wait, WHAT?"

(A/N: **Yami Masaka:** MMMBWAHAHA! Anzu is goin down **Nero:** thank you ms.: Chunky-hunky-funky-munky-lady for your song donation!)

With all the delicacy one should bestow on a piece of sophisticated and already proven to be finicky technology Anzu slammed the quarters into the machine and pounded on the menu screen to get to a song that she liked.

Seto groaned at the display and even Yami had to admit that Anzu did look a little technophobic.

/This is not going to end well/ Nero muttered slapping a hand over his face.

Yugi cast a curious look at the young angel. Nero just looked worriedly back at him.

"Song _C'est La Vie_ by _bwitched_, is this your choice?" the machine asked. Anzu stomped on the arrow confirming that action.

"May your talents shine through, Anzu," Nizuki said with an odd ring of affection.

Anzu looked uncomfortably vulnerable for a moment then flipped her hair once more and laughed; "Your damn right I'm gonna shine! Prepare to kiss arcade carpet, newbie!"

"Perhaps," Nizuki only smiled as she adjusted her stance and turned her focus onto the display.

_Ah Ohh Hey Hey_

_Ah Ohh Hey Hey_

_Hey you sittin in your tree _

_Mummy always wants you to come for tea _

Barley four lines into the song Nizuki was already mopping the floor with Anzu. Even more embarrassingly, however, was that the blonde didn't seem to be actually competing.

Unlike said brunette Nizuki didn't waste any effort in trying to make a sensual display of herself. She didn't roll her hips or caress her chest. Nizuki simply danced as if the joy of moving was slowly filling her up. She danced like a girl who was grateful for the very opportunity to dance.

Yugi and gang barely noticed when some of the other arcade-visitors turned from their screens to watch and they didn't notice how some of the more awkwardly gaited individuals were looking at the angel like she was their hero.

_Don't be shy, straighten up your tie _

_Get down from your tree house sittin in the sky _

_I wanna know just what to do _

_Is it very big is there room for two? _

_I got a house with windows and doors I'll show you mine if you show me yours _

Anzu was obviously the better dancer. She could move well and keep time with the song. However, something about the way that Nizuki was getting so much admiration must have irked the girl because Anzu suddenly threw a whole new set of tricks into her routine.

She turned away from the screen and performed a high-kick twirl that caused a poor little nerd in the back of the crowd to actually gasp and tumble back in his chair. Anzu smirked over at the angel but Nizuki just continued her basic little rhythm.

_Gotta let me in, hey, hey, hey _

_Let the fun begin hey I'm the wolf today hey, hey, hey _

_I'll huff I'll puff I'll huff I'll puff and blow you away _

_Say you will say you won't _

_Say you'll do what I don't _

_Say you're true, say to me c'est la vie _

Anzu frowned at Nizuki's easy composure and she tried another trick. She smirked sexily over her shoulder and swayed her hips as if swinging around a wolf-tail. Apparently it worked because the gathered teenage boys watching shoved past Yami and group to get closer to the stage. Nizuki didn't do anything other than what she'd done to begin with. She leapt gracefully and silently, letting herself appear the happy clown as she followed the random pattern of arrows the machine poured out.

_Do you play with the girls, play with the boys? _

_Do you ever get lonely playing with your toys? _

_We can talk, we can sing _

_I'll be the queen and you'll be the king _

_Hey boy in your tree thrown down your ladder make a room for me _

_I got a house with windows and doors I'll show you mine if you show me yours _

Seeing as how her pantomime had worked thus far Anzu completely ignored the keys and danced even more wolfishly, throwing in a sexy hip-roll and boob-bounce wherever she could.

Her audience hooted in appreciation and Anzu threw herself into it, her eyes seeming to glow red in appreciation of the attention.

_Gotta let me in, hey, hey, hey _

_Let the fun begin hey _

_I'm the wolf today _

_hey, hey, hey I'll huff I'll puff I'll huff I'll puff and blow you away _

_Say you will say you won't _

Nizuki didn't seem vexed though, she kept her feet on the steps, Anzu didn't. In the end that was what it was going to come down to, not who was better, but who was good under restrictions.

_Say you'll do what I don't Say you're true, say to me c'est la vie _

Nizuki watched the score then looked at Anzu who was only paying attention to her flock of admirers. Anzu seemed to be in her own little fantasy world in which she was a famous diva in a throng of her admirers, exchanging her petty love for their lust.

Nizuki shook her head at the very idea and coughed to try and get the girl's attention. However, Anzu was too caught up in her fantasy to notice. Nizuki just rolled her eyes and continued to dance, enjoying the sweep surge of adrenaline that came with physically exerting herself.

_Say you will say you won't Say you'll do what I don't Say you're true, say to me c'est la vie _

The final tone struck.

Anzu blinked and looked back at the machine then at the panel under her feet. She'd totally forgotten the game, and more importantly what was riding on the game.

"I-I lost?" She gaped.

"I'm just as surprised as you are," Nizuki laughed politely. "I only looked over for a second but I saw that high-kick thing you did. It was really good but I dooon't think it has much to do with the game. Still it was fun and-

"FUN!" Anzu shrieked, "HOW CAN YOU THINK THIS WAS ABOVE PROVING WHO WAS THE REAL DANCER HERE YOU MORON!"

The crowd seemed to quail back because of the shrilling and they turned over to the victor, much preferring her humble behavior to this shrieking violet.

Nizuki just shrugged off Anzu's protests, "maybe that's where you went wrong then, don't you think? I mean if you'd just paid attention to the basic goal of this-

"DON'T YOU DARE PREACH TO ME ABOUT THE IMPORTACE OF DANCE! I LOVE DANCING! HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST THAT I DON'T" Anzu screamed.

"I wasn't preaching," Nizuki said, "and I wasn't suggesting. I was just pointing out the facts."

For a moment Anzu seemed stripped bare of all defense. Despite her short little dress, her pretty heart-shaped face and the fact that she'd just been doing the naughtiest, sexiest moves any woman would be proud to master, the girl looked completely unsettled.

Nizuki's eyes softened and she reached out to touch Anzu's shoulder but the girl's nasty-streak suddenly came back and the girl slapped Nizuki's hand with a force that actually caused the blonde angel to wince and rub her knuckles.

"Oh well, okay, maybe I lost focus there for a bit but I think we can both agree that I'M the one that everyone loved," Anzu said pompously.

"That isn't the point. We were playing a game, THIS game and you lost," Nizuki said waving her hand meaningfully at the arcade full of competition lovers.

"Oh who the hell cares about that," Anzu laughed and fluffed her hair. "Playing to the rules is just for pathetic little dorks who need pixilated adventures because they're not strong enough or talented enough to do anything of REAL value."

If the arcade crowd had seemed to be willing to forgive the girl's behavior before, they certainly didn't appear to be in a forgiving mood now. There was an aura of rage growing amidst those geeks that even an angel would think twice about.

"Um okay well I think that's going a bit-" Nizuki tried to step in and calm the crowd down. Her attempt didn't even begin to start because the clueless brunette just continued to talk herself deeper and deeper into trouble.

"-Seriously! I'm like these dork's goddess up here and if you think that you're pathetic little swaying can change THAT you are as stupid as you are sexless. I am obviously the victor here," Anzu continued to preen.

"Maybe," Nizuki sighed warily. "But I don't think it's really going to be up to me to decide which dancing is better."

"Then who's going to decide," Anzu huffed.

"Um…I think the 'dorks' as you called them, are going to have their say," Nizuki sheepishly pointed to the now very perturbed crowd.

"YOU HEARTLESS WITCH!" One squeaky toned male yelled from the throng. Anzu gulped nervously and tried to smiled prettily. The crowd wasn't having it though.

/Uh.../ Yugi thought

/Would you call this 'power of the players' or…just an angry mob?/ Yami commented.

On a completely separate mental-channel Nero was laughing hysterically and chanting /Nizu-onee toooold her but she didn't liiiiiiisten/

"GET THE GREEDY WITCH!" The crowd yelled. All at once the mob grabbed Anzu and dragged her out of the shop.

(A/N: Oh if only this could happen in the series, it'd be a hilarious scene I know it!)

"HEEEELLP!" Anzu yelled as the arcade owner himself held open the entrance door for the mob to toss the girl to the street.

Yami was about to dash over to her when Nizuki gracefully jumped off the machine and right into Yami's path.

"Uh-Uh Yami-kun, you were part of the bet," Nizuki said shaking a chastising finger right in front of Yami's nose.

"What?" Yami said.

"The crowd is just a little vexed but they won't hurt her, RIGHT GUYS?" Nizuki called out to the boys.

"You got it," they smiled back. One boy even sheepishly went up the dancing platform to grab Anzu's shoes to take out to the girl.

"In accordance to the rules of our competitions, as officiated by these fine gamers here," Nizuki said operatically over the arcade crowds, "Yami Motu is hereby restricted from visiting/speaking/watching and in any other fashion consorting with Anzu Masaki until approximately noon tomorrow!"

The crowd applauded the decision and gave the blond a few more congratulations before they wandered back to their games. Otogi didn't make matters any better when he bowed over and kissed Nizuki's hand in a mockingly Victorian fashion. The dice-master's efforts were wasted however, as Nizuki seemed far more interested in attending to Otogi's ribs than having someone flirt with her.

Yami just stood in the middle of the room in shock and watched as Honda took Otogi over to the arcade restaurant to relax. Seto even more casually said something to Joey which caused the blond to bristly and agree to compete with the billionaire.

"AH! Now I feel a bit tired," Nizuki climbed off the DDR machine finally and leaned heavily against Ryou's shoulder.

"Nizuki are you alright?" Ryou asked.

"Oh she just on a tiny adrenaline high right now," Nero spoke up innocently. "She may have bad memories associated to dance but she really is most happy when she's moving."

"Nizuki is that true?" Ryou asked with slight worry. Nizuki just smiled in a vaguely drunk manner and rubbed her cheek against Ryou's neck.

/Well that…and I just poked into Otogi's injuries a bit to help it heal/ the angel admitted only privately.

/…You…can do that? T-thank you that's…incredible/ Ryou said with awe.

Nizuki actually seemed to blush a bit at that level of awe but didn't let it distract her from the fact that there were still plenty of humans watching.

"You have been avenged…my dear Ry-Ry," Nizuki crooned teasingly.

/I am an angel, darling. Healing comes with the territory…though unfortunately I can't do it very often without totally draining myself. Healing is one of those minor miracles I told you about/ Nizuki winked before swatting Ryou playfully on the butt. /But don't worry I still have enough energy to work on your case…if you'll just give me a second to rest./

Ryou blushed at Nizuki's affection but didn't react other than to let the angel slide out of his arms and fall into one of the empty stools for pachinko.

"Can WE play now Yugi?" Nero said tugging impatiently on Yugi's sleeve.

"Uh sure," Yugi said with surprise. After a big throw-down like that he hadn't really thought the non-aggressive angel would want to even stay in the arcade.

Nero, however, seemed completely fine with the heavy gamer atmosphere and he let out a cheer and jumped into the air. Yet the young angel seemed to forget to come down. Yugi yelped and tossed his arms around Nero's shoulders, covering the move with an impromptu hug.

/Nero! Humans don't float!/

/Oh oopps/ Nero smiled sheepishly.

A vein popped out on Yami's head. He did NOT like this Nero kid clinging to Yugi, and he disliked the fact Yugi was clinging to Nero even more. While Anzu was around he could ignore his dislike but now that she was out of the building he was able to concentrate on how much this all really, REALLY ticked him off.

"Um alright then…since everyone seems to be about their distractions, I think I'll just show Nizuki around and …let her get her land-legs back so to speak," Ryou said as she took Nizuki's arm and led the angel towards the less crowded area of the arcade.

"Awwwwh I was enjoying watching the little drama," Nizuki said softly enough that only Yugi heard.

Yugi blushed and looked over at Yami. The ex-pharaoh was too busy internally brooding, however, to pay much attention.

/Did you..want to join us, other me?/ Yugi said, unconsciously using the hyper-affectionate nickname he'd only used on his other before Yami had started dating Anzu.

When Yami only grunted, Yugi forced himself to grin unaffectedly. Nero must have picked up on it however because he snuggled tight into Yugi's ribs and led the boy over to the nearest game.

Unaware that the pair's cuddling was a result of his own damn arrogance, Yami continued to think far too hard over what really should have been an obvious fact.

Yami was unhappy that his other-half was involved with Nero and it was even a fair guess to say that the ex-pharaoh was jealous. However, Yami was an idiot when it came to reading his own heart and he refused to allow himself to ever believe he was jealous…even when he ended up smashing his fist into the pachinko screen after seeing Nero sneak Yugi a small kiss on the cheek.

**1** remember the group is under the delusion that Nizuki is Ryou's cousin

**2** three-fingers up to represent the holy-trinity, God is with us. It's an angel thing

**CHAPTER**

Nizuki would have actually enjoyed spending some time with Ryou innocently playing games but it was not really that surprising to her when something suddenly crashed behind them and a storm of decidedly Egyptian swearing filled the air.

"What was-" Ryou blinked over his shoulder.

"That," Nizuki sighed, "was the sound of summoning. I should go back and see what happened but if you want to-"

"N-No!" Ryou immediately interrupted and grabbed the angel's hand. Nizuki quirked an eyebrow at the behavior and Ryou just blushed.

"Oooookay then, if you don't want to be alone that much then I guess we can BOTH go back."

The angel and the protectorate turned and walked back around the corner, both half expected to see something utterly unbelievable like Anzu karate-kicking her way through a hoard of zombie-like arcade patrons, or even Bakura storming the place in a 'how-dare-you-mere-mortals-think-that-you-can-sweep-me-into-the-clost-like-a-beer-soaked-old-coat' huff of vengeance.

Luckily what they came upon was only mildly weird. Yami was swearing up and down, clutching his fist like it was about to fall off, Yugi was holding his hands over Nero's ears and at the same time was trying to sweet-talk the newly returned and obviously triumphant Seto into paying for a busted video game that had a very suspicious Yami fist sized hole in its screen.

"What happened here?" Ryou asked as Nizuki drifted off to look after Nero.

"Well Set and I were just finishing our game and …I-I mean we heard a crash and came runnin' over," Joey explained and glowered at the tall brunette.

Seto didn't seem particularly interested in Joey's accidental usage of nickname and he shrugged. "Yami broke a pachinko game when he punched through the glass."

"Ah well that WOULD explain the mess of metallic little balls all over the floor," Nizuki snickered and scooped Nero out of Yugi's grasp.

Yugi frowned at that move but then blushed, frowned and rubbed his wrist. Apparently the duelist was only now coming out of the cloud of utter affection that Nero projected on anyone around him.

/Could've gone a little easier on the cuddly attitude, could you puffy-wings?/ Nizuki said over her own private telepathic channel to her fellow angel.

/I sorry, I not even aware I doing it/ Nero blushed. Nizuki just chuckled and kissed the cherub on the head.

"-Uh right," Yugi finally recovered himself enough to get back to his bargaining with Seto. "Well um…since it IS broken we'll either have to pay for it…or Yami will be banned from this arcade and we'll have to wait until YOUR arcade opens again to compete."

"I'm not really sure I care," Seto smirked teasingly. For a boy whose aura was as dark as a near-demon, both Nizuki and Nero were slightly surprised to see Kaiba acting on any sense of amusement.

"Well what exactly made Yami so upset that he'd risk being booted out of his kingdom," Ryou said without a single drop of sarcasm. "Surely there were extenuating circumstances. I mean…well even Bakura doesn't go around destroying things without a reason."

/Though I suppose 'stupid-machine-makes-my-head-hurt' isn't entirely a reason/ Ryou added on with an attempt at humor.

/We really ARE going to have to do something about that _boy_/ Nizuki replied seriously.

"Well I dunno if he does. Yami wouldn't say when I asked…well no he did say SOME stuff but ya know not the kinda stuff ya repeat in mixed company," Joey shrugged, critically looking Nizuki up and down.

"Oh don't mind me," Nizuki snickered.

Nero tugged on Nizuki's sleeve pulling the taller blonde down to his level.

"Nizuki-onee! I think this my fault, I was having Yugi-sama show me how to play the pachinko and I give him little victory-kiss then Yami went all wrathful," Nero shamefully reported.

"Oh really," Nizuki snickered wickedly.

"Nizuki! Don't be happy about this!" Ryou scolded.

"Sorry, Ry-Ry," Nizuki fluttered her eyelashes at the boy.

Joey listened to this whole interplay silently then he stared critically at Nero and then at Nizuki.

"Uh is it just the 'lectric squalling of da machines gettin' to me or did the term 'Yugi-sama' just escape Nero's lips?"

"What? Huh? I didn't hear anything like that!" Ryou said hurriedly.

"Yes well…Nero does look very highly on Yugi, what with Yugi being his boyfriend and all," Nizuki countered with a crafty smirk.

"B-Boyfriend," Joey stuttered as he squirmed uncomfortably again.

"Oh for god's sake," Seto said while the two angels shuddered. "We all had a hunch they were dating already, you stupid dog."

"I …huh? What?" Yugi blinked in complete confusion.

"Yes, they are the cutest little couple. The way they kiss even is so cute they-" Nizuki continued.

"WHOA YUGI AND NERO KISSED!" Joey yelled loudly.

The two angels pretended to be horrified when all heads snapped to them. Yugi however was generally horrified. He did not like the sound of Joey's panic stricken voice.

"Well it was more of a little peck really," Yugi said trying to smooth things over a little, figuring his blonde friend was talking about Nero's little victory-peck.

Joey seemed a little too over his tolerance level to comment so he just stood there, the other teenagers, however, looked particularly interested in this new subject.

Nero looked up at his angel-friend in confusion but Nizuki just winked confidentially back.

"Ah! I think this a big subject to breech! Why not we talk more over lunch?" the little one suggested.

/Nero? What on earth-/ Yugi started to protest.

/Please Yugi-sama, is Nizuki-onee's idea. She must be working on cover-story for me. She tell everyone that she is Ryou's relative but I have no real cover-story my own. She has to come up with something…I not good at such things/ Nero pleaded back at Yugi.

Immediately Yugi felt a sense of outrage. He hadn't asked for a fake boyfriend, he didn't need a fake boyfriend, and how dare these angelic interlopers suggest this sort of situation anyway?

But then after taking a second or two to think about it –and get a eyeful of Nero's puppy-dog eyes to boot- Yugi relented that maybe…maybe a cover-story would be a good idea. After all the near-confrontation they'd had with his friends before was not a performance he wished to repeat. Besides which he really did like Nero and it wasn't like he hadn't thought about the angel in _that _way at least once.

'_Stupid, stupid fantasy educing leather outfit,'_ Yugi thought to himself privately before speaking.

"That sounds like a good idea," Yugi agreed, "but….what about the machine?"

"I'll take care of it," Seto said flatly.

"You will? But I thought-?" Yugi blinked.

"Heh, don't get overly sentimental Motu," Seto snorted. "I just know that Mokuba will kill me if I don't get the story about how you managed to sneak behind the back of your other-half to date some kid who didn't get the traumatic Yami cross-check."

"What does that mean? Cross-check?" Nero asked.

"Uh well Yami usually makes sure anyone I so much as flirt with is not going to turn around and pull a gun out or me or something," Yugi blushed.

Yami hadn't actually ever used the cross-check on anyone because Yugi didn't really date anyone. However, for every single school-project that he'd had to do, Yami had grilled his partners on a level even Interpol would have found intrusive.

Yugi was still actually kind of upset about how Yami had drilled into his math study partner so hard that the girl actually requested a transfer of schools.

"Oh…I not get cross-checked," Nero stated the obvious.

"Trust me, that will be remedied shortly," Yami huffed.

"Ah! Don't you DARE!" Yugi shouted, not consciously aware of how much like a protective lover he sounded like. In his mind Nero was just someone he felt comfortable around and Yugi, unfortunately, didn't have enough people like that in his life.

"Oh Nero, don't worry. We both know that Yami isn't around that much. You and Yugi can do whatever you want," Nizuki said darkly; her eyes trained on Yami, watching for any sort of reaction.

"How DARE you try and suggest that I don't care enough about my SOUL'S PARTNER that I would just let some intruder-" Yami started to growl, his cheeks flushed in mixed parts shame and fury.

Yugi's face exploded with red as Yami pulled out that particular hyper-affectionate nickname and he looked over at Ryou desperately.

"Ah! Hey, if we are going to hash this all out, w-we should probably get Otogi and Honda in on it to so they aren't…you know…out of the loop. Let's all go over and join them in the café," Ryou suggested rapidly.

The gang agreed to that and Seto attended to the matter of shoving a large check in the arcade owner's face quickly so that they could eat lunch in peace.

"Rich bastard can buy off anyone if ya give him enough time," Joey muttered to Nizuki as they followed were all but royally escorted over to their friends by the balding arcade owner.

"Even you?" Nizuki blinked innocently. Joey spluttered and started to ask what she meant but Nizuki side-stepped the question entirely by sliding into the booth next to the two hikaris.

Otogi was looking a lot better from Nizuki's treatment, enough so that he actually pouted over the fact that Nizuki was at the other end of the table from him. Honda, on the other hand, looked phenomenally grateful that he was on the side of the bench with the angels rather than Yami who was still glowering and glowing with a decidedly supernatural aura. Seto, being the utter non-believer that he was, had no problem sitting next to Yami though he did seem a little uncomfortable with the way Joey was sitting at the very edge of the bench as if he were waiting for an excuse to run away.

A sort of tense silence hug over the group until the waitress came back with the manager's complimentary main entrée (a half-meat half-veggie super-sized cheese-crust pizza plus a pitcher of root-beer). The moment the still steaming pie hit the table was like the white-flag being waved at the beginning of a car-race.

"So start from the beginning, when did you two meet, how, where, why did Yugi agree to go out with an underage, foreign little pixie like you and after he did agree where did you-" Yami started.

"OK, OK Yami relax! We'll explain everything," Yugi said not liking his other-half so upset and yet strangely relishing in the unusual undivided attention he was receiving from the older teen.

The ex-pharaoh gave off a grumpy huff and leaned back in his seat but the aura around him did dim slightly.

"Why don't you just start with where you two met, Yugi?" Honda offered as a truce.

/W-what should I say?/ Yugi asked the cherub at his side.

/I already say I bad at cover story!/ Nero shrieked back.

"They met at the Kame Game Shop," Nizuki broke in with a Cheshire grin.

Both Yugi and Nero turned to her with a jolt.

"They did? But I would-" Yami started to interrupt.

"You would what? Yami you haven't been covering any shop-hours since summer ended," Yugi decided to just go with this slight angling of the truth.

"I well…I-I had good reason," Yami flushed.

"If you call getting laid a good reason," Seto jabbed.

"SHUT UP!" Yami growled back at the billionaire.

"So Nero was looking for a game and ended up with a boyfriend?" Joey questioned.

"No, Nero was injured," Nizuki shook her head.

"YAH! My wi-" Nero started in honestly. Luckily Ryou and Yugi's hands caught the angel's mouth and covered it before more brutal truth could escape.

"He'd gotten into a bit of a…domestic quarrel and had to seek a reprieve. Yugi bandaged him up and in gratitude Nero declared himself Yugi's own…and Yugi kindheartedly accepted," Nizuki explained.

/Holy cow! S-she didn't even have to LIE! I mean…she said it like…boy and friend not actually a boyfriend and she told them about how I really DID meet you and yet she stretched the details enough that…WOW!/ Yugi mentally gasped.

/Nizuki-onee so smart…but…I wonder…how she get away with lying about her being Ryou's relative then? She obviously trying to get away with as few lies as permissible…which in each case is low amount anyway/ Nero blinked.

/I…I dunno, maybe she was Ryou's cousin's guardian angel once?/ Yugi responded.

/…I suppose that could be it/ Nero said hesitantly.

The gathered teenagers stared in awe at Yugi and Nero and when they realized the attention was on them they scooted closer together and tried to look at couple-like as possible.

"I-If someone as cute as Nero offered themselves…to you…wouldn't you accept?" Yugi said as he twirled Nero's bangs around his finger.

Joey turned slightly pale and focused his attention on scarffing down the meat-side of the pizza. Honda shrugged only slightly discomforted and began snatching his own meat pizza away from the black-hole that was Wheeler. Otogi sighed dreamily in a way that could only mean he was remembering an ACTUAL offer of ownership from one of his many admirers.

Seto leaned interestedly across the table and stared critically at Nero; "But…isn't Nero a little bit too young for you? I know you are on the stunted side-"

"Watch it Kaiba," Yami growled.

"-but there are laws against these sorts of things," Seto finished.

"Hey! I happen be OLDER than Yugi-sama, thank you very much!" Nero pouted. "Just cuz I look like a chibi doesn't mean I AM one!"

"How much older could you be?" Seto stared.

"Ahhh! Only a year or two older," Ryou lied in the angel's stead. "You might be confused because his speech sounds so young but really…well…Nero is just from…someplace other than Japan."

"Someplace other than Japan," Seto repeated tauntingly.

"Yah, eh, he's um…well he's only here until he can figure his family situation out…you know…err…and um…you know he's here for me too but mostly the whole…family…thing," Yugi flushed as he stepped up to bat as well.

Seto looked the two hikaris over critically then shrugged –obviously satisfied that this story would appeal to Mokuba- and he turned to antagonize Joey about his eating habits.

Yugi sighed in relief then turned his gaze to his other-half. The image he saw immediately tugged at his heart strings.

Yami was staring at him as though his very heart had been torn out. His crimson eyes seemed to bleed with troubled emotion.

"Y-Yami," Yugi breathed unsteadily, the strange sensation in his heart nearly causing his pulse to halt altogether.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner then? I mean it appears that you were nervous about how I would react to someone I hadn't inspected getting so involved with you but I thought you knew that you can always trust me," Yami said sadly.

"Wow, would you look at the time!" Nizuki said looking at a clock fixed to the wall, "we better go huh Ry-kun?"

"We don't have anywhere to g-" Ryou started to speak.

/I just mean don't you think Yami and Yugi need a moment alone?: Nizuki said.

"Oh!" Ryou awed, "you're right Nizuki we'll be late for that…thing you wanted to see at the um…we better go.

/Yes, the thing, well covered hikari/ Nizuki teased before crawling over Nero and Yugi to get out. Ryou vaulted over the bench back a little more politely.

The others seemed to sense the on-coming soft-subject between the two boys as well and they just as quickly –though some not as smoothly- excused themselves.

Otogi pretended to be struck by a sudden resurgence of pain in his ribs, Honda grabbed on Otogi's excuse and pretended to offer the boy a hand in getting back to his game-shop.

Joey simply mumbled something incomprehensible and took off like someone had threatened to light his ass on fire and Seto quite uncaringly said he did not want to get caught up in whatever was about to go on between the boys.

Even Nero excused himself by sliding under the table.

"Have a nice talk Yugi-sama," Nero smiled as he walked away.

/Wait! You can't just, I can't be-/

"Well Yugi, don't you trust me?" Yami asked.

**Masaka:** 'Well, you never pay attention to me!' THAT'S what Yugi should tell that deserter

**Yugi:** I could never say anything like that to my Yami!

**Yami: u**

**Yugi:** Even though it is true

**Yami: -U **Nizuki: Wow 2,122 words! That's about 600 words down from the unedited version

**Masaka: U** REALLY!

**Nizuki:** 600 words well reduced my authoress mistress

**Nero:** Heh-heh Yugi and me date?

**Yugi:** What's so funny about that?

**Nero:** err nothing but well…you wouldn't want to…date me would you?

**Yugi: blush **

**Nero: blush **

**Yami:** HEY!

**Yami Masaka:** Hey what? You are dating Tea after all right? And you were chasing after her when Nizuki beat her butt

**Nizuki: evil glint eyes and triumphant smirk** heh-heh I beat her but good!

**Yami:** WHAT! But that's just the story-me! The real-me doesn't like Tea! I like…

**Yugi:** Like who Yami?

**Yami:** Um…someone

**Yugi:** Someone like who?

**Yami:** Someone like…not Tea

**Yugi: sighs **It's hopeless trying to ask you isn't it?

**Yami:** YES!

**Nero:** Yugi you still not answered my question

**Yami:** BACK YOU EVIL HIKARI-SNATCHING CREATURE! **grabs Yugi** YUGI IS MINE!

**Nero: 0-0 **

**Yugi: 0-0 **

**Yami Masaka and Nizuki: 0-0 **

**Masaka:** Ok these little wide-eyed faces are getting boring

**Yami:** Err...um I mean **embarrassedly let's Yugi go **

**Yugi:** Y-Yami did you mean what...you said?

**Yami:** Err ...I'LL BE GONE TILL THE LAST CHAPTER BYE! **runs off at the speed of light **

**Masaka:** Wow I didn't know he could move that fast

**Yugi: dreamy look on his face little hearts all around him **

**Nizuki**: This authoress note is going to disrupt the story is it?

**Masaka:** Nope, Yugi doesn't even know he likes Yami that way in the story yet, only that his heart goes achey when Yami is gone and that he doesn't mind Nero being his pretend boyfriend

**Nizuki:** But the authoress notes DO effect the muses here right?

**Masaka: the why-are-you-asking-all-these-questions look** Uh huh

**Nizuki: giddy face** Oh boy! **Runs off**

**Masaka**: Oh - Kay some how I know that will be blowing up in my face new authoress notes but for now **PRESS THE PRETTY BUTTON AND REVIEW! **

**Nero:** REVIEW NOW! PLEASE! I GIVE KISSES AND HUGS OUT!

**Masaka: holding her contract that states she can make her OC'S do anything she wishes including giving out hugs and kisses to reviewers** heh-heh


	7. Understanding Goes Both Ways

**Masaka**: these are chapters 13-14-15. They've been reformatted to be more direct, but sort of at the cost of a bit of humor

**Yami Masaka:** These changes also reflect certain ideas in the plot that hadn't been focused on as much before.

**Masaka: **I'd like to apologize in advance to anyone who preferred the older version and beg their indulgence

**Yami Masaka: Snarling and glowing like a demon **ALL HATE-MAIL WILL BE FORWARDED TO THE DEMONS TO HELP IN THE TORTURE OF SOULS!! BWAHAHAHA!!

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Yugi looked at the guys playing a shooting game, at a couple in the corner kissing; he looked ever where except Yami's direction.

"Aibou," Yami said gently, "please answer."

"Yami I…it's just…I-I didn't want anything more to … c-come between us. I mean, we are so distant from each other now-a-days anyway that…I just didn't want to add to that," Yugi sighed.

Yami felt like he'd got socked in the gut. The former sovereign had never really thought about it but…compared to the way things were when Yami had first returned from the Afterlife, they weren't anywhere near as close.

What hurt further was the fact that it was BECAUSE of loneliness that Yami had returned in the first place. When he'd been on the other side he'd felt such an acute sense of emptiness that …and Yugi had…how could he have let his relationship with Yugi degrade so much?

"I-I'll try spending more time with-"

"It's okay!" Yugi interrupted, "I know you are busy with Tea and I can understand that it's just…it's just I …I miss you."

Yami bit his lip thoughtfully then came across an idea that really took some weight off his shoulders.

"The bet!"

"What?" Yugi asked.

"Nizuki and Tea's bet! According to that bet I can see Tea for another day, at least! Why don't we use it to our advantage in this situation."

"I still don't get what you mean," Yugi pouted.

"I mean you can keep me company tomorrow! And we'll spend all day catching up and reestablishing our friendship."

"I-I never meant to say that our friendship was-" Yugi began to stammer.

Yami silenced his hikari's protests by reaching over the table and taking Yugi's hand.

"Please, don't argue with me. Just go along with it…I really do need to gain your trust back," Yami grimaced, feeling strangely desperate.

Yugi continued to stare at Yami then nodded firmly. "Sounds like fun."

The sound of a familiar angelic squeal for over near the ball-pit jolted Yugi's attention back to the situation at hand.

"AH! But right now I gotta be with Nero! H-he'll freak if I just ditch him."

"But I-"

"Sorry Yami," Yugi smiled disarmingly before dashing off.

Yami stared blankly at Yugi's now empty seat before curling his fingers into a fist and slamming the table in deep annoyance.

"BUT I STILL WANT TO KNOW WHY THE HELL ALL THIS TICKS ME OFF SO MUCH?"

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Nizuki was leaning against a photo booth rubbing her ruby ear-cuff thoughtfully. In the angel-circuit this particular stance was known as her planning mode.

Sometime in the 19th century Nizuki had received her ear-cuff. It was part of some new regime she'd been set up by Higher Powers to do for her job. Exactly what the details of the cuff were, Nizuki couldn't rightly remember but ever since that time she'd become really attached to the trinket and it, in turn, had turned into the keystone for the angel's best plots.

"Why! Why tenc- I mean Nizuki!" Ryou asked, trying to be courteous to Nizuki's request to be called by name even while angered, "what was that story for anyway?"

Nizuki didn't reply; her gaze was unfocused and pointed to the horizon. The gears in her mind were whirling and clicking at top-speed leaving her no room to respond. She was plotting and planning each action much like a chess-player examined moves in a game.

It was only when her higher senses picked up Yugi's aura approaching that she allowed her awareness to drift back to the matter at hand.

". . .Nizuki? Nizuki were you listening?" Ryou asked, noticing the return of awareness to the angel's amber eyes.

"Iie, sorry, Yugi's coming over. He has the same questions you do, so just hold on a second longer."

Nero came darting over from the ball-pit he'd been playing in when his angelic hearing picked that up and he asked, "what is to explain?"

"Why I started the story," Nizuki answered shortly as Yugi finally reached their little group and all focus turned to him.

"WHAT where you THINKING, Nizuki!!" Yugi huffed, more desperate then angry.

"I was thinking that I figured out what your wish is," Nizuki smiled saucily.

Ryou and Yugi shared an 'I-don't-like-the-looks-of-that-smile' look then both turned their gazes towards the angel.**  
**  
"And. . .what do I want?" Yugi asked skeptically.

"Your greatest wish…is to become Yami's beau," Nizuki said ever so bluntly.

"NANI!!" Yugi yelled. Nero clasped his hands over his ears at the noise.

"Just what I said you want-"

"No, no I HEARD you but what makes you think-"

"That icy shaft you feel through your heart when Yami is with Tea or is not with you is the sadness and jealousy that only come from wanting a lover," Nizuki near giggled.

"I. . .I-I," Yugi said his lavender eyes flat and near lifeless with shock, "I. . .do?"

Ryou looked flabbergasted between his angel and Yugi then blurted out, almost thoughtlessly.

"But Yami is Tea's boyfriend and you can't just –I mean an angel wouldn't just-"

"Settle down Ry-Ry," Nizuki smiled gently at her protectorate, patting the boy gently on the head, "I didn't say anything about breaking Yami and Tea up. This is about getting Yugi comfortable enough with his feelings that he can confidentially offer Yami a choice. And believe me, judging from just happened, I think Yami will switch over without much problem."

"B-But how would I g-go about getting Yami's attention err…in a lovey sort of way," Yugi spoke up, turning bright red when Nizuki gave him a satisfied 'ah-hah-I-knew-I-was-right-about-what-you-want' look.

"Don't you worry about that little one! The pretty angel has it all worked out, we are going to use the oldest tactic in the book! The absence technique," Nizuki grinned triumphantly.

"Say what?" both Yugi and Ryou said as one.

Nizuki face-faulted. Maybe her genius was quite as clear as she'd always thought it was.

"I just mean that separation can make a person more aware of certain feelings that they may otherwise ignore," the blonde angel tried again.

Both hikari ohhhed then looked at each other and said, "I still don't get it."

"COME ON!!" Nizuki nearly sobbed, "you've got to understand this sort of basic brilliance, we take Yugi away from Yami so long Yami HAS to realize his feelings, we don't make Nero and Yugi get super close because then Yami will just go into depression but we DO keep Yugi away from Yami!"

"What about Tea?" Ryou asked.

"Well, Tea does have the advantage as she already has Yami calling her his girlfriend and spending the greater amount of time with him compared to Yugi," Nizuki agreed, "but Yugi is, I believe, still the better match for Yami! So we just keep the two separate for just enough time for Yami to become aware of that himself. This will, of course, create certain problems but as long as we have Ryou's house as a buffer-zone I think we can do it. Do I have your permission to use your homestead as the base of operation, Ry-chan?"

"Yes sure," Ryou nodded, still looking a little overwhelmed. Nizuki put a gentle hand of his shoulder.

[Don't stress, my protectorate. I DO know what I'm doing. I've done it countless times before

"Okay then!" Nizuki said clenching her fists in a triumph-is-near pose, "Now Yugi according to this plan you have to keep your hands off lover-boy, can you hold in your dirty little teenage impulses long enough to win Yami over?"

"Yes-I mean no- No! I mean yes I just! AH NIZUKI!!," Yugi whined his face flushed, "I thought angels weren't supposed to think like that."

"Technically I suppose your right," Nizuki then winked saucily, "but I'm not just any old angel."

"So what we do NOW?" Nero asked.

"Now?" Nizuki smiled, "we pretend like there is nothing wrong in the world and continue playing games until it's time to go home!"  
"YIPPEEE! More fun-fun game-time with Yugi-sama!" Nero chirped. The angel grabbed Yugi's arm and smiled up at the boy. "We play more, Yugi-sama?"

Yugi smiled warily down at the little cherub and nodded. As Nero pulled Yugi off into the land of arcade games a single thought kept running around in Yugi's mind.

'I'm in love with my yami!'

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

The afternoon sped by quickly and without realizing it the gang had managed to spend four hours playing away. Upon realizing the time Joey pulled away from his almost bloody racing battle with Kaiba and –with only the basest good-bye- ran off to his cram-group.

Without having the blonde around to antagonize Seto departed as well, followed quickly by Honda and Otogi.

Yami and Yugi looked as if they'd both find no problem with playing until midnight and it wasn't until Ryou nervously mentioned that he had to get home to check on his other-half that the two gamesters even headed towards the door.

Once they hit the street Yugi was hit by the saddest, sweetest, most guilt-inducing look Nero could produce. And it was definitely a humdinger of a look. If you were to judge the situation solely by the expression on Nero's face you would have thought he was a victim in some weapon-less grudge match.

The real situation, however, was much less insidious. Nizuki had simply mentioned that to keep the plan working Nero would have to move out of Yugi's place and start sleeping over with her at the Bakura residence.****

://B-But Yugi-sama//: Nero sniffled :/ I want to go back home with you?//:

/Awwh Nero you know I can't let you/ Yugi said trying not to look at Nero leastwise he'd loose the will to fight and destroy everything prematurely /Yami doesn't know you having been living with us for the last few days and . . .it's just . . .you can't because then your disguise will be-/

://But I want to be with YOU, Yugi-sama! You're the only one that makes me feel safe//: Nero sniffled throwing his arms around Yugi's waist causing the teen to blush and tremble in emotional agony.****

"Oh cripes!" Nizuki sighed charging over to the pair and physically prying Nero off Yugi, "Nero, it's not like you'll never see him again!"****

"B-but," Nero started to sniffle. Nizuki sighed and knelt down to Nero's level.**  
**

"Nero, you want to be a good angel and grant Yugi's wish and repay him for all his kindness so far, don't you," the blonde angel gently argued.

"Uh…uh-huh," Nero sobbed into his sleeve. (Yami had been forced to drag Yugi away to keep the poor mortal teenager from totally losing it by this point).

"Okay then!Now you just say good-night to Yugi and come with us like a good cherub and I PROMISE I will give you every opportunity to hang out with Yugi that I can," Nizuki smiled.

Nero nodded and darted to over where Yugi was hobbling away and gave the boy a tackle-hug strong enough to guarantee the boy a much harder time walking home.

"GOOD NIIIIGHT YUGI, Nizuki called over to the nearly collapsed teen, when she was sure she had his attention she added a saucy wink and a grin and mentally cooed to him[do try to keep your dreams to yourself, I don't want to have to explain teenage hormonal actions to Nero later on.

"NIZUKI!!" Yugi screamed turning crimson. Nizuki just chuckled and escorted Nero off towards Ryou's home while Yami could only look on in confusion.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

It was deep into the night when Nizuki finally found the leisure time to meditate again. Though she had hoped that one bonk on the head would be enough to keep Bakura from protesting against her lodging at the house, the reality of the situation wasn't so kind.

Bakura had been a much bigger problem than Nizuki had ever suspected.

** flashback******

_When they arrived to the Bakura household it was just starting to get dark. The small house stood out from the others glowing white like a ghost. Unlike the other houses that had lights on to light the porches Ryou's house was pitch black inside.___

_"OOOOOH! Scary" Nero shivered. Nizuki had to agree with Nero, the house didn't seem very inviting._****

"Bakura might still be asleep so we better go quietly," Ryou said blankly. Nizuki looked away from the house to glance over at Ryou.

"_Why should we even be worried about that? I was under the presumption that Bakura was your other-half, like Yami is to Yugi."_

"_Well, yes he is …I mean he could be considered I mean…let's just get inside," Ryou wailed._

_Nizuki nodded and promised herself she'd get the full-scoop out of her protectorate later. ___

_The trio walked up the walk and snuck inside quiet as they possibly could. But before they were even three strides inside the room the lights snapped on._

_"Ryou? What the hell? Where were you, and who are these jokers?" Bakura growled from the living room. His hair was slightly tangled and he looked a little sick but his eyes were filled with a deep loathing.___

_Nero let out a small yelp and dove behind Nizuki. Ryou's face went even paler. As for Nizuki, well, strange enough the usually outspoken angel felt her wit momentarily slip away from her as she was suddenly flooded by a torrent of emotions._

_Without meaning to, Ryou had accidentally sent all his understanding and feeling and thought about the dark-one into Nizuki's half of their angelic bond. Suddenly Nizuki understood EXACTLY why Ryou wanted to sneak into his room and …strangely…Nizuki had the vaguest feeling…that she should be running away as well._

_Stubbornly Nizuki pushed that very un-angelic thought down and she drew her defensive powers into her, preparing herself for anything._  
**  
**_"T-they're g-g-guests Bakura...Nizuki is m-my c-cousin and N-Nero is her friend...they'll be s-staying in t-the a-attic r-room f-for a f-few months…t-they're visiting."_

_Bakura stared coldly at his aibou, an icy chilling feeling swept through the boy, so cold that Nizuki felt it as well.__  
_  
"Hmm," Bakura said turning away to stare at the wall, "it's your house I guess so I can't say anything," he turned back to glare at Ryou even harder, "but if they cross me their will be serious consequences for both you and them."

Something that looked like a conscious shadow flickered around Bakura's clenched fist and when Ryou caught sight of it he nearly collapsed.

"_Y-Yes Ba-Bakura, I-I'll take responsibility for them. I-I know how you l-like your privacy," the boy forced himself to smile. Bakura seemed to be pacified by this because he slumped down into his chair, his eyes taking on a sick sort of glaze that Nizuki was SURE she'd seen somewhere before._

_Ryou grabbed both angels, each by an arm, and started to drag them towards the attic. But with a plea to her protectorate to not panic, Nizuki broke from his hand and turned to face the beast._

_She wasn't going to let this sicko dominate her, no way, no how! Nizuki of the Gabriel to whom a thousand fates had fallen was NOT going to sulk off into her room like a timid little girl._

_"Uh Bakura...sir, I would like to formally thank you for allowing Nero and myself to share your home, I'm sure that-"___

_"Listen girly," Bakura interrupted, awareness coming back to his glassy eyes in a demented snap, "I'm not doing this out of the kindness of my heart or any crap like that, I'm only letting you stay so Ryou doesn't whine about this later, and because I'm tired so don't push your luck."___

_"...Oh course," Nizuki said staring stonily at the white haired yami. She suddenly realized that Bakura didn't really care about dominating anyone…he just wanted to make sure everyone would steer clear of him…it was kind of…annoying!___

_"Uh, l-let's get you set up upstairs OK," Ryou said after a minute of silence, reaching pleadingly out for Nizuki's hand. Nizuki looked between the two white-haired males before giving another polite bow and returning to Ryou's grasp.___

_"Yah I'm sleepy, sleepy," Nero tacked on cutely._**  
**  
End Flashback

Nizuki returned her gaze to the starry night. Her wings shimmered like liquid silver under the moonlight.

The calm quiet of the night was soothing for her; it had been for all her life. When she was a cherub she'd still on the clouds closest to earth and watch the lights of the cities dance and twinkle imitating the stars in the sky.

"Star light, star bright," Nizuki chuckled as she looked at one particularly radiant star.  
**  
**"Nizu-chan?" a soft little voice asked from beside her. Nizuki turned slightly to see Ryou coming up the steps, a flashlight in his hand.

"Ry-chan! What are you doing up here?" the angel asked.

"Uh-" Ryou blushed pink and stared at the ground, "I couldn't sleep...then I heard you shuffling around up here so I...I mean if I'm bothering you or something I can go-"

Nizuki chuckled lightly causing Ryou's face to go an even brighter shade of pink.

"Come here Ry-chan," Nizuki said holding her arms open for the white haired teen.

Ryou blushed but crossed the room and snuggled into Nizuki's lap. The golden haired angel smiled and wrapped her wings around him.

"Nizuki?" Ryou asked.

"What is it Ry-chan?" Nizuki questioned gently as she played with Ryou's silken white hair.

"...Can you really make sure I'll be happy? I mean, I wanted to ask you before but...can you?"

Nizuki was silent for a moment, her eyes turned back to the night sky then down to the boy in her arms. "I'm not exactly sure my Ry-chan," Nizuki sighed, "your situation is much more complex than Yugi's and demands a lot more from me…but I swear to you now that I will try my best."

Ryou smiled happily then yawned. Nizuki chuckled and moved so that she and Ryou were on the cot that had been set up earlier. She wrapped the comforter around her and Ryou, her wings still cradling the teen.

"Close your eyes, my dear one. Let me wander the fringes of your mind and soothe your worries in the form of dreams," Nizuki gently cooed.

Ryou looked up at her his face illuminated by the glow of her wings. He didn't want to sleep, he wanted to stay up with his angel, he wanted to talk to her to tell her of the dangers that she was facing…and to convince her that she shouldn't worry because…because he was starting to believe…that as long as she stayed with him…as long as she looked after him…that he would have all the happiness he could ever receive.

"Nizuki I...I don't want you to go ever," Ryou stated his face tainted crimson. He felt foolish for being so attached to someone he barley knew. But he hadn't felt so safe and comforted since his mother died and when...when he realized how miserable a person he really was.

"Ry-chan," Nizuki chuckled musically, her arms squeezing Ryou to her comfortably, "you don't have to worry about that, I won't leave until you don't need me anymore."

"B-But I'll need you for always! I-I feel so much safer with you then-" Nizuki gently pressed her index finger over Ryou's lips. She frowned slightly, feeling all the anguish in her young one's mind and sorting it into her overall plan as best she could.

"Don't worry about things like that right now. …How about I sing you a lullaby to help you to sleep?" Nizuki offered.

Ryou started to object that Nizuki didn't understand how much he truly needed her but seeing a rather familiar sort of stubbornness in her eyes he just sighed.

"A lullaby would be nice I suppose."

Nizuki nodded and nibbled her lip (because she wasn't able to twiddle with her ear-cuff) trying to think of something that would fit Ryou.

"I have been given one moment from heaven," Nizuki started like chimes in a breeze, "as I am walking surrounded by night stars high above me, make a wish under moonlight."

Ryou remembered hearing a song like that on the radio once; it had been one of his favorite songs to go to sleep by, but how could Nizuki have known that?

"One my way home I remember Only good days. On my way home I remember all the best days. I'm on my way home I can remember every new day..."

Nizuki's voice deepened to amber honey for the next verse.

"I move in silence with each step taken, snow falling round me like angels in flight, Far in the distance Is my wish under moonlight..."

Nizuki's whine chime voice returned for the chorus

"On my way home I remember only good days. on my way home I remember all the best days. I'm on my way home I can remember every new day..."

The wind played the flutes to add to Nizuki's song.

"On my way home I remember only good days on my way home I remember all the best days. I'm on my wa home I can remember every new day

On my way home I remember only good days on my ways home I remember all the best days I'm on my way home I can remember every new day..."

Nizuki trailed off her voice slowing down like a breeze drifting past. She looked into her arms to see Ryou sleeping soundly.

The honey-haired angel smiled extra brightly and kissed his forehead.

"Good-night...my Ry-chan."

And as the boy drifted off to sleep, the angel once again glanced out the window. All she could see from this angle were stars.

'My Lord and Creator…give me the strength to guide this boy to his happiness as quickly as I can. Because I fear if I don't…I might start wanting to stay with such a boy forever as well.'

And with that rather stomach-clenching idea in mind, Nizuki settled down to rest.


	8. An angel's soul room

Masaka: *cheeks bulged out from held in laughter*  
  
Yami Masaka: It's not funny aibou  
  
Masaka: *nodding rapidly her cheeks still swelled*  
  
Yami Masaka: AIBOUUUUU!  
  
Masaka: *bursts out laughing* I-I'm sorry I-I j-just can't help it!  
  
Yami Masaka: The dream I wrote for this chapter is NOT ridiculous! It is a teenage boy type dream!  
  
Masaka: I-it's not that!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!  
  
Yami Masaka: Then...what's so funny?  
  
Masaka: THE DREAM IS SO FREAKING LIKE MIYUKI IN WONDERLAND!!!  
  
Yami Masaka: *blushes* Oh...ya I guess but no one I wrote about is into whips and stuff  
  
Masaka: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *pounding on the floor with both fists tears in her eyes*  
  
~~~~~~~ Yugi looked around him. There were toys scattered all around, and games, and other such childish activities.  
  
"My soul room? How in the world did I get here?" Yugi thought to himself.  
  
Just then a door to his left, a door he had never noticed before, opened.  
  
"Phwee?"  
  
From the door emerged Nero, dressed in-in...something Yugi would never have thought the little angel would wear, not that Yugi disliked it mind you.  
  
White leather pants (a little tighter fitting then the ones he'd stolen from Yugi's closet) and a white leather vest closed in front by a leather belt that wrapped around his chest completely. On his neck was a white collar with silver studs in it; his wings were not to be found.  
  
"N-NERO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!" Yugi yelled in shock.  
  
The little angel blinked innocently at him and bounced into the room, silver chains around his waist jiggling as he did so.  
  
The green-eyed boy spun around Yugi twice like he did that one-day and nuzzled his neck.  
  
"Don't you like me Yugi-sama? I thought you be happy that I could visit you in your soul?" Nero cooed gently; the vibrations of his voice going through Yugi's skin down his spine.  
  
"I-I-I'm just surprised to-to s-see you here that's all Nero..."  
  
"Well since I'm your angel and you have a millennium item, I sort of have a soul-room, it's attached to yours by that door," Nero said pointing to the door he'd come through; one arm clutched around Yugi's arm while the other pointed.  
  
Yugi looked at it again, noticing the silvery white outline it had and the wing emblem on the front.  
  
"Would you like to see my soul?" Nero said in a tone the sounded at touch too seductive for the innocent cherub.  
  
Yugi felt a bead of nervous sweat start to trickle down his face and onto his neck.  
  
"U-Uh sure Nero I-if you want me to, th-that is," Yugi smiled toothily.  
  
"I want to show you everything Yugi-sama," Nero continued in that pillow- talk type tone.  
  
"W-ell t-then let's go," Yugi said wincing inwardly as his voice cracked. Nero giggled lightly and pulled Yugi along after him.  
  
The door swung wide open at Nero's slight touch, a blinding light poured out and covered everything.  
  
Yugi winced and covered his eyes with his arm, letting Nero pull him along into the light.  
  
There was the sound of a door shutting behind them and then the lights dimmed a bit.  
  
Yugi moved his arm and looked around. His eyes almost instantly becoming as wide as dinner plates. He'd expected games and human 'thingy's maybe the video game from the arcade, heck he'd have even expected to see giant huggable plushies or something but that was defiantly not what he found.  
  
The room was slightly bigger then his own soul room, but it looked almost endless because of the cloud filled blue sky painting that was on all the walls. In each of the four corners of the room stood five-foot tall candelabras each of the stands the form of a top less silver lady with a Greek-styled skirt hanging low on her hips. The candle-holding part at the top was branched this way and that like the limbs of a tree, little rose-scented white candles stood in each silver cupped holder.  
  
Silver scarves hung in arches across the roof and piles of cream-colored cushions were scattered here and there on the floor.  
  
But the thing that caught Yugi's attention the most was a giant pearly shell that stood in the center of northern wall.  
  
"What's that thing?" Yugi asked pointing at it. Nero, who had had his arms wrapped contently about Yugi's neck peeled himself away slightly and looked at it.  
  
"Oh that?" Nero looked up at Yugi with half-closed sensual looking eyes, "that is my most secret place...where only a special few are allowed in...would you like to see?"  
  
"Uh s-sure I-I mean y-yes I would," Yugi, said his face going beat red and more sweat trickling it's way down his face and neck.  
  
Nero unwound himself from Yugi and went over to the shell. He reached his arms above his head practically arching backwards to get his fingers into the lip of the shell. He pulled it back and it opened down like a medieval gateway. Inside there was a series of winding ivory steps.  
  
"Steps? Where do those lead to Nero?" Yugi asked. Nero only curled his index finger in that 'come-hither' signal. Yugi found no willpower to refuse.  
  
They went down and down and down what seemed like hundreds of steps, not being able to stand beside each other because it was to narrow.  
  
Then suddenly the steps stopped and they came to a room that looked a bit like that the inner most curl of a shell would look it...sort of.  
  
More candelabra girls were at points in this round room, these ones gold. Round gold-gilded mirrors were set in the middle of the walls between the candelabras, more cream-colored pillows underneath them. The floors were pink marble and were covered in red, white and even some yellow and pink rose petals.  
  
In the middle of this Aphrodite's temple type room, surrounded by a pool of glowing silver was a pearl-silk laden round framed bed.  
  
"W-wow t-this is nice," Yugi stuttered, "the furnishings are v-very beautiful..."  
  
"Mmm-hmm and the silk is softer and smoother then anything you've ever felt before," Nero said wrapping his arms around Yugi's shoulders from behind.  
  
"N-Nero w-what d...what do you think y-you're doing?" Yugi gulped.  
  
Nero smiled and leaned to kiss Yugi when suddenly...  
  
'BANG!'  
  
Yugi spun about to see a glowering red-faced...VERY skimpily clad Yami at the doorway of the room.  
  
"Y-YAMI!! I uh," Yugi looked over at Nero and then at Yami, "t-this isn't what it looks like I-"  
  
"Don't apologize Yugi-sama, Mr. Pharaoh had his chance and lost," Nero said his fingers running little circles on Yugi's chest.  
  
"YOU LET HIM GO Y-YOU HIKARI-STEALING HUSSIE!!" Yami screamed. Nero blinked innocently and then leaned into Yugi's neck and kissed him.  
  
"E-err," Yugi mumbled as he started to turn twelve shades of red.  
  
"OOOOH!!" Yami growled.  
  
Then suddenly before Yugi even had a chance to try and get an explanation in Yami lunged at them and tackled Nero to the floor. Well more put Yami was straddling the angel on the ground clutching the little one's shoulders so hard they were probably bruising.  
  
"YOU LITTLE, YOU LITTLE GRRR!" Yami growled and in one fluid motion...he ripped Nero's vest-shirt right off his body.  
  
Yugi could have passed out right there if he wasn't so interested in what Nero would do in response.  
  
"OUCH!!" Nero yelped. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave the ex- pharaoh a pouty glare and then...  
  
'RIIIIP'  
  
Yami's shirt came flying off as well. Yugi was amazed he was still standing his legs were bloodless.  
  
Both shirtless (and Yugi thought perfect chest-ed) fighters glared at each other and then started wrestling. Seriously Joey's movies had NOTHING on this, and the two of them HATED each other.  
  
'SRRIK'  
  
'FLUMP'  
  
'RIIIIIIIP'  
  
Belts, chains, buckles, they all came off and were flung in any which way they wanted. Soon Yami and Nero were down to their boxers only.  
  
'RI- ~~  
  
"Yugi! Come on Yugi get up," Yami said shaking Yugi gently by the shoulder.  
  
"Nooo," Yugi whined, "only...bit more..."  
  
Yami blinked slightly confused. Was Yugi dreaming about food or something?  
  
(Yami Masaka: Oh I could SO make something out of that Masaka: Please don't I'm clinging to my PG-13 rating)  
  
Yugi groaned and blinked his eyes open sluggishly to be met with red-wine colored eyes.  
  
"EEP!!" Yugi yelped flinging himself backwards and right into the wall by his bed. Yugi's head smacked into the wall but Yugi didn't pay it any attention because he was too busy trying to keep down the blush that had covered his face because of the subject of his dream being so close to him.  
  
"Are you...OK aibou?" Yami asked concernedly.  
  
"Fine!" Yugi said in a tone that was WAY too high. Yami chuckled lightly making Yugi turn even brighter red.  
  
"Err..." Yugi looked at the clock that stood on the side-table between their two beds. The digital red numbers flickered seven o'clock.  
  
"Wow it's early," Yugi thought out-loud.  
  
"Well I thought you'd want to get an early start on our day together," Yami said, he then chuckled, "but you liked your little dream-world too much it seemed, I was barley able to get a response out of you."  
  
"O-Oh..." Yugi blushed.  
  
Yami just shrugged out and head out the door.  
  
"Get dressed, I have breakfast ready."  
  
"Kay Yami," Yugi smiled his cute hikari smile.  
  
Yami then disappeared around the corner and Yugi slumped back onto his pillows.  
  
"Phew, that could have been embarrassing if he was looking into my mind," Yugi blushed.  
  
~~~  
  
Masaka: As you can see this *points to the chapter above* is what you get when you leave a yami in charge of a chapter  
  
Yami Masaka: HUMPH!! *Crosses arms and sticks up nose* well I liked it  
  
Nizuki: And I'm sure Yugi did too tee-hee  
  
Yugi: *blush* 


	9. Who Cares What Underwear?

Masaka: YEEHA

**Masaka:** YEEHA!! I'm backing in control of the keyboard! **Flashes a big grin and a peace sign **

**Yami Masaka: tails swishing back and forth** agitatedly hey everyone that reviewed liked my chapter

Masaka:** blushes** err ya well I didn't say I didn't like it I just um...**blushes** I'm not sure I wanted Nero and Yugi to have such a…A RELATIONSHIP…even if it was only in Yugi's dreams

**Yami Masaka:** SHEESH!! You are such a pillow-fox it wasn't R-rated or anything

**Masaka:** Well...**thinks it over for a second then bursts into a big** grin I guess it's alright then

**Yami Masaka:** I'm glad you think so because I already got video-tapes of it copied and I sold one to Jounouchi!

**Masaka:** WHAT!! HOW COULD YOU SELL ONE TO THAT PERVERT? WHAT IF HE SHOWS IT TO NERO!!

**Yami Masaka:** Uh...**blushes and scratches the back of her neck** I didn't really think of that

**Masaka:** WELL THEN GET YOUR SILK-COVERED-BUTT OVER TO WHERE JOEY IS AND GET THAT TAPE BACK RIGHT NOW!

**Yami Masaka:** Eh-heh OK **shrinks away fearfully** just calm down aibou

**Masaka:** I'M NOT LETTING THAT GLUTTON HOUND RUIN NERO!!

**Yami Masaka:** Ok-OK just stop yelling and I'll go OK?

**Masaka: huffing and puffing arms tense at sides** OK...I'm fine now **relaxes a little** really

**Yami Masaka:** Oh ya clears throat THANK YOU YELENE-RYUDREAM FOR MY PIXIE STICK!! **Runs off to get back the near x-rated tape**

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

It was Bakura's purposefully heavy footfalls drifting up from downstairs that woke Ryou up that morning.

It had just become a habit of the white-haired teen to wake up at the sound of his other-half's approach or exit, sort of like how a mouse taught itself to watch the corners of the room even while eating.

So despite the near nauseating earliness of the hour Ryou jolted upright from his sleep. After a moment or two of not having anyone screaming at him for Tylenol or cackling a drunken little ditty about various subjects Ryou really didn't want to hear the teenager slumped back down to the pillows and worked on deciding if he was really ready to be awake or not.

"Ry, you can go back to sleep or not but if you could please stop tugging my primary feathers around your shoulders? Just because they're made of sunlight it doesn't mean they won't break," a voice whispered in his ear as Ryou debated things over.

The voice, plus the recognition of a heartbeat beneath his ear jolted the half-Brit into full consciousness faster than if Bakura had threatened to go back to the otherworld.

"T-TENSHI-SAN!" Ryou gasped, as he squirmed to get out of the angel's lap. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Shhh," Nizuki soothed tenderly, her hands running through Ryou's bangs with maternal care. "It's okay. You fell asleep up here with me last night…remember."

"Oh…y-yes…I'm sorry about that. You must have been uncomfortable," Ryou blushed as he finally managed to get to his feet.

Nizuki rose and lazily stretched her wings before even bothering to acknowledge her protectorate's question. In the grey of pre-dawn the golden light of her wings seemed even more brilliant than ever.

"I am your angel, Ry. You don't have to treat me so formally," Nizuki sighed while walking towards the large picture-window and throwing open the glass-doors.

"I just…I'm…not sure how to treat you," Ryou flushed. "I mean…you remind me…of someone I've lost and I want to treat you warmly but…well we only just met and-"

"Time is not a concept I'm very good at, Ry-chan," Nizuki smiled teasingly. "You'll have to use some other argument to convince me."

Ryou nodded and tried to think of something…but strangely nothing came. In the short day and a half that she'd been with him this blonde angel had managed to build a concrete place for herself in Ryou's consciousness. It was as if he'd never been without her.

"I…I'll try…to be…I won't be so distant from now on Nizuki," Ryou flushed. He then embarrassedly turned his attention to the attic stairs. "Um…did you hear Bakura leaving just now?"

"Yes…the git," Nizuki snorted. "He's gone off to cause trouble with some rather shady characters on the other-side of town."

"How do you know that?" Ryou blinked. Nizuki just looked at him and the boy's face lit up in shame. "Oh right…s-stupid question."

Nizuki shrugged and pushed the window the rest of the way open then walked out onto the balcony beyond. Almost besides himself Ryou followed after the angel like rain after a spring wind.

"Thank you, oh our Creator and Lord, for yet another day," Nizuki said lovingly to the silent air.

"-And may we not take it for granted," Ryou finished more timidly.

Nizuki snickered then turned her gaze up to the ceiling. "All right then…it's been up there since yesterday afternoon so it should be ready.

"W-what should?" Ryou asked curiously.

Before Nizuki could even open her mouth to answer a weird jingling sound filled the air. Nizuki grinned more brilliantly and reached up over the lip of the roof towards the chimney and pulled something out of the chink in the bricks where Bakura had knocked a brick out in one of his inexplicable all-over house inspections.

"What is that?" Ryou asked walking right into Nizuki's space to catch a glimpse.

"This," Nizuki grinned broadly, "is my light capturing bottle."

In the angel's palm, sitting quite contently for an inanimate object, was a round bottle made of a sort of bluish glowing sea-glass. The stopper of the bottle was also made of glass but it was more intricately shaped and instead of glowing blue it glowed red. Both the bottle and the stopper had a rather odd organic shape, as thought they'd been dug up from the sand after a lightening storm, though as Ryou looked at it closer he could pick out a slight rose-shape from the stopper and the bottle looked a bit like a strawberry.

Though it was almost aflame with light the glass was so frosted that Ryou couldn't see what was inside it.

"How does a little sea-glass bottle like this hold light?" Ryou questioned as his fingers reached for the bottle.

"Tut-tut Ry-chan, that is top-secret heaven classified material," Nizuki frowning playfully as she pulled the bottle out of Ryou's reach and gave him a teasingly scolding tap on the nose.

Nizuki tied the bottle to her hip with a bit of silk cord from her tunic and walked back inside. Ryou looked at the now pinkish sky then followed the angel back inside.

"Angels collect the light of day, demons use the dark of night, and we all use what we are given to wield our craft in the matter we see best," Nizuki said cryptically. "I would have used it yesterday on the horrible Tea girl if I'd thought to bring it but I think things worked out better when I didn't…"

The angel sighed and in a flicker of light changed her clothes to human garments once again.

"What are you going to use it for now?" Ryou asked.

Nizuki winked grandly at the boy and smiled so brilliantly the rising run seemed to rush to greet it.

"Oh I'm going to have some fun, you'll see."

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Breakfast at the Moto's house was unnaturally silent that morning.

Then again the last time the two tri-colored-haired boys had had breakfast together had been a long time ago back when grandpa was still running the shop for normal durations, instead of running off like a mad-man to uncover cursed tombs and unsavory temples with his friend Arthur.

'That dream I had last night was so...weird,' Yugi thought as he absentmindedly moved his fork between his food and his mouth, 'I mean I get why Yami was in it, I'm in love with him, but Nero too? That's way up there with the dream I had about Pegasus winning the Miss America competition.'

(A/N: Masaka: Heh-heh I just had to add that in here)

Yami looked across the table at his smaller counterpart. Yugi's large purple eyes were staring off into space as his hands moved the now empty spoon back and forth.

'I should have know something like this would happen,' Yami thought dismally to himself. 'Damn that Nizuki girl for saying what she did! Knowing that we haven't talked so long is making these new conversations so much more serious than they have to be.'

"Eh-heh," the ex-pharaoh cleared his throat. Yugi looked over at him curiously. "We um…didn't really set any plans down for what we wanted to do today…did we?"

Yugi jerked violently from his thoughts at Yami's voice and blushed.

"A-ah no…we didn't," Yugi said, making sure to keep his eyes on the floor. He didn't dare look his other-half in the eye yet.

"Well…perhaps…there is somewhere you'd like to go? Just please don't suggest a movie! Tea and I have been to very movie out at least three times and I don't think I could stomach another one," Yami groaned.

Yugi smiled at the irony of that statement. After Yami had first returned to this world and started visiting places he'd become a great cinematic fan. While the ex-pharaoh hated sitting still for the hours it took to actually watch a film he still looked watching a whole story unfold on the silver-screen.

He'd forced Yugi to watch 'The Mummy Returns' with him six-times until they finally got banned from the theater for laughing too loudly.

"Kaiba is having a showcase of his latest virtual reality equipment over at the convention center," Yugi smiled. "It might be fun to go over there and scare away the patrons."

"For their own good," Yami snorted. Yugi giggled obscenely. Yami did respect Kaiba and was completely happy to give the taller male whatever aide he needed with his duel-disk or his other holographic technology but the ex-pharaoh and the rest of Yugi-tachi beside point-blank refused to help with the virtual world.

They'd even managed to scare away sixteen of Kaiba's beta-testers until the billionaire started out maneuvering them and hiring workers from other countries.

Yami had been studying hard on how to scream 'KAIBA'S MACHINE WILL ENTOMB YOUR MIND' in every language known to man, including a few aboriginal tongues just in case.

"I suppose that is as good an idea as anything…though somehow I get the feeling we'll have to fight our way into the building," Yami groaned.

"Awh, is the Game King afraid of a little confrontation," Yugi snickered.

"Never," Yami smirked dashingly back at his aibou. "I'm just trying to keep to my light-half's rules about using my powers only when absolutely necessary."

"Oh so you're doing this for me then?" Yugi taunted.

"Only for you," Yami responded. Yugi jolted at that and even Yami looked a little disconcerted at how tender his voice had turned.

"Uh…I-I'm going to do get dressed now…please wash the dishes for me…Yami," Yugi said jarringly.

"Of course, take your time," Yami leapt to his feet.

Despite knowing his desire Yugi wasn't sure exactly how hard he wanted to press his other-half just yet. He refused to be the atypical couple-breaker…even if it was his other-half on the line.

'What in the world have I gotten myself into,' Yugi thought as he retreated to his room and threw open his closet doors.

Sighing in a depressed tone Yugi began to undress. He peeled off his shirt and pajama bottoms throwing them in his hamper and was about to peel of his dark magician boxers when...

'WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP!'

Having had several bad bedroom interrupting experiences already Yugi instantly raised his head to look over to his shoulder curiously. Bizarrely the noise was coming from the inside of his closet.

Yugi walked over to it confused. As he got closer the direction of the noise became even more bizarre. Now the noise appeared to be coming from his mirror.

Yugi pulled the door back all the way open and blinked at the mirror…then gasped. Instead of his reflection, staring back at him was-

"NIZUKI!!"

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Yugi just stood there in his underwear gaping like a flounder at his closet mirror for ...he really didn't know how long when the angel looking back at him broke him out his trance by gazing behind her back into what looked like the Bakura house's library study.

"I told you all I needed was a bigger mirror, thanks Ry-chan," Nizuki said smiling over at Ryou.

"No problem but...why didn't you tell me Yugi would be able to see you too?" Ryou asked from out of sight.

"You would have said something that would have warned Yugi," Nizuki giggled, "and I wanted to surprise him, it's always more fun this way."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY MIRROR!!" Yugi yelled not being able to stand it anymore.

"Just checking up on you, don't get so up tight I'm casting the same spell on Ryou's dresser mirror and my compact mirror so I can monitor you guys," Nizuki said with a dismissing hand gesture.

"YA? WELL THANKS FOR TELLING ME!!" Yugi yelled sarcastically.

"Hey calm down will ya? Yami might overhear and...are those...dark magician chibis on your boxers?" Nizuki finished with a bright grin.

"Uh," Yugi said as his face went up a blistering red. His hands went immediately to his waist to shield his undergarment choice from Nizuki's suddenly too intense gaze, "w-well ya..."

"That is so cute," Nizuki snickered. "Does Yami have Dark Magician Girls on his? You'd really match then. Underwear mates, the purest sign of love! Heh."

"I don't really th-think," Yugi said as he crab-walked over to his bed and pulled his duvet over his hips, "that you have any right to be asking about my underwear."

"Oooh don't be such a spoilsport, Yu-chan," Nizuki pouted. "It's not like I'm trying to be mean about it. Besides, it's just clothing."

"Well…" Yugi flushed.

"Or…is it a LACK of clothing that I'm talking about?" Nizuki asked critically. "Ah, I guess I'd be a little hesitant to talk about this too if I knew my potential lover didn't wear any undies."

"C-CAN YOU PLEASE JUST GET OUT OF HERE! I HAVE TO GET READY FOR MY DATE WITH YAMI!!" Yugi wailed in utter humiliation.

"Oh alright, enough kidding around then," Nizuki shrugged dismally, as if all the fun had left the room. "I do have business here, Yugi, whether or not you'd like to admit it."

"What sort of business could you have that involves spying on me in my underwear?" Yugi said as he reached over to his closet and snatched a pair of jeans and a shirt at random.

"I want to make sure you know what you're getting into with this business, Yugi. I know you love Yami, but there is a right way and a wrong way to go about this," Nizuki said formally.

"I think she means she doesn't trust you to not go and seduce Yami," Ryou snickered from the background.

"Thank you Ryou, I got that," Yugi flushed with shame.

"Yes, well; it's not that I don't TRUST you it's just…Yugi, not all good intentions led to noble ends. I cannot abide this wish if it means risking Nero's spirit any more than it has been," Nizuki said as she reached behind her and playfully bonked Ryou's head.

"I wasn't exactly planning on shoving my tongue down Yami's throat and calling it quits," Yugi snorted as he shimmed the jeans up his legs. He got them half way up his thighs we he remembered that this pair had a giant hole in the seat.

"I know its just…I…I'm worried," Nizuki frowned in self-derision, "I know I shouldn't be. Even with your rather risky dreams-" Yugi chocked and fell to the ground "-you are a fair and gentle-minded mortal…it's just…well in regards to control over personal desires…I don't really think I trust anybody to control themselves."

"Why? You have a case go bad over lust or something like that?" Yugi asked as he searched through his clothes –with the duvet around his body like a cloak- and picked out a pair of non-glossy cream-colored leather pants.

"I…I can't rightly remember…but I know it was something like that," Nizuki crossed her arms tightly over her chest. The angel heaved a heavy sigh and looked heavenward. "You help a thousand people and the details all start to stir together."

The blonde then shrugged and clapped her hands together as if she were closing a book. "But that shouldn't make any difference. What I wanted to tell you Yugi is that you must be on your best behavior today! You should be witting, you should be pleasant, but most of all you should be the sweet gentle aibou that Yami doesn't even know he should be missing! Trust me on this, if you play this day of right we'll have Yami warming our bed in less than a month!"

"NOW WHO'S BEING A PERVERT!!" Yugi yelped in panic.

"Oh, didn't you know Yugi. Angels aren't all sweet and innocent like the postcards depict us. We know the sensations of lovin' and livin' just as well as any of you, we just don't have any physical need to follow through with those emotions."

"Great, angels know every lusty sweat-drenched detail that goes through our minds, and they're completely willing to antagonize us for it. Oh the list of things I'm finding out about the divine just keeps getting worse and worse," Yugi moaned.

"Oh don't be silly! The only love-life I'm even focused on is yours. All the other couples in the world seem sickening to me at the moment," Nizuki said with another flourished hand-wave.

"Wonderful," Yugi groaned. "Ryou, please stop her."

Ryou giggled and placed his hand on the angel's shoulder.

"Shall I give Nero a kiss for you Yugi? Or maybe you'd like it better if I just gave him another leather outfit…with straps?" Nizuki giggled.

"Go away you…you…you WOLF in angel's clothing!" Yugi whined bitterly.

"Alright, blessing on your day, Yuuuuugi!" Nizuki chirped.

"Just try and have a good time with Yami, I know you've missed him," Ryou said more compassionately.

The mirror then glimmered and the only images looking back at Yugi were his own.

"Well, I guess I better get on with it then," Yugi sighed to himself. He then looked down at his clothing –a very chancy looking belly-shirt and the form-embracing pants.

"After I err…change again."

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE **

Now downstairs Yami was tapping his foot impatiently on the floor. He was trained very well to wait long and boring hours for his dates with Tea to begin but he wasn't prepared to expect such problems with Yugi.

'Wait, what am I think of? This is NOT a date!' Yami berated himself, 'this is just me and Yugi hanging out together.'

"Aibou are you ready yet?" Yami yelled up the stairs.

"Yes, just about, I'm sorry for making you wait," Yugi called back.

Yami smiled gently. That was one of the things he liked most about Yugi, he was so kind, unlike someone else he knew that would keep him waiting for half an hour at the movies in the rain while she was so busy adjusting her little skirts and-

'Damn it! There I go again comparing Tea to Yugi, why do I keep doing that?' Yami mentally growled.

(A/N: Masaka: Oh I don't know Yam-yams maybe it's because you psyche is trying to tell you that you'd be better off with Yugi then that annoying gal Tea? Yami Masaka: Ya-ya we're all impressed with your psychotherapy skill now can we please MOVE ON!!)

"Yami...are you OK?" Yugi asked as he appeared at the head of the stairs.

Yami looked up and felt his jaw drop to his collarbone. Perhaps it was simply because he hadn't seen Yugi outside the normal morning rush and school-breaks for such a long time but as the dark boy looked at his aibou standing under the sky-light on the stairs he could swear he'd never seen a more beautiful looking man in all his life.

Somewhere along the lines, while Yami wasn't looking, Yugi had managed to find a sense of style not dependent of school-punk and not so forcedly adult as his leather-strap shirt. Yugi was just dressed in a nicely faded and fitted pair of jeans and a nice weather-appropriate hooded-jacket but just the way Yugi filled those clothes out and how he chose to wear them stunned Yami.

Where had the little elf-child in his oversized school-jacket gone? Where was the child who collected armbands and belts who never found the courage to wear them himself? Who was this new Yugi?

"Yami...woo-hoo Earth to Yami," Yugi called.Yami just shook his head and rubbed his eyes sternly with the heel of his palm.

Too used to his other-half's non-communicative nature Yugi just rolled his eyes and walked the rest of the way down the stairs. He was fairly sure he knew what was going on. Yami was surprised he wasn't wearing his school-uniform. Yugi had stopped copying his other-half's leather-heavy wardrobe almost as soon as the other tri-colored haired teen had returned to life. It had confused people enough that there were two Game Kings, he hadn't wanted to heat the fire any more by dressing like his other-half as well.

Yugi casually passed his other-half and pulled his favorite combat-boots out of the janitor's closet –which he and Yami used as a shoe-rack whenever his grandfather was around-.

"Well?" Yugi asked again as soon as they were on. Yami looked at him curiously. "Aren't you coming?"

"Oh um yes," Yami said walking over and putting his own boots on.

"You seem pretty out of it Yami, are you sure you're OK?"

"I'm fine," Yami blushed.

"You seem a little red to me," Yugi said frowning concernedly.

Yami fought down another blush and pulled open the Game Shop door and started out.

/We better hurry if we want to get there before all the games are taken/

Yugi blinked confusedly then shrugged and followed after.

Nero: hid behind Yami Masaka nervously Missy Masaka why is everyone glaring at me like that

CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND

**Masaka: **THANK YOU Master Elora Dannan for my new bishounen Kaoru!!

**Kaoru: **So does that mean I'm staying here?** curious look **

**Masaka: **Well if you like...I won't force you to stay, I only force my muses to and they don't listen one-hundred percent of the time

**Yami Masaka: comes running in the door **Hey aibou I got that tape back but Joey sure was disappointed so I gave him a Seto plushie that all right?

**Masaka: Grins ear-to-ear and thrusts Kaoru in front of her other **lookie- lookie it's my own bishounen!!

**Yami Masaka: also smiling **Great** looks confused **um who is he?

**Kaoru: **My name is Kaoru Nagisa! I was sent by god to merge with Adam and destroy all humanity!

**Yami Masaka: sweat-drop **Huuuuuuuh

**Masaka: **AND LOOK HE CAME WITH CHOCOLATES!! **holds up the box **

**Yami Masaka: **Aibou...are you sure it's safe to have this thing around?

**Masaka: **SURE IT IS!! As long as we don't write any Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfics that he can escape through or pull this Adam guy into our author notes we should be fine** glomps Kaoru **besides now I have someone I can listen to my enya, sarah brightman and LotR CDs with

**Kaoru: **What is a LotR?

**Yami Masaka: **DUDE!! Get with the 21st century, LotR, Lord of the rings? Legolas the hottie?

**Masaka**: Iprefer Aragon …Anyway here Kaoru, listen to this, this is what LotR music is **slaps a pair of headphones over his ears and presses play **

**Kaoru: **Oh my! What an amazing symphony, the grandeur, the mystery!

**Masaka: **AND HE HAS SILVER HAIR!! YAMI MASAKA DID YOU NAG ME ONCE ABOUT HOW MUCH I LIKE SILVER HAIR?

**Yami Masaka: **I nagged you about your OBSESSION with silver hair...and white hair...and now that I think about it any hair that shares the color of a jewel.

**Masaka: **Yep! I mean Shiro from the discontinued White Revolution story had silver-white hair and Nizuki has golden eyes and golden hair, why even Nero has pieces of golden in his hair I LOVE SPARKLY COLORED HAIR!!

**Kaoru: sitting on the floor swaying back and forth as he listens to his music **

**Yami Masaka: **Here aibou, the tape** tosses the cassette at Masaka **

**Kaoru: humming along to the song **

**Yami Masaka: **Oh ya I almost forgot clears throat YAMI YOU SPINELESS SNAKE!! YOU CAN'T JUST RUN OUT AFTER YOU GLOMP SOMEONE LIKE YOU GLOMPED YUGI!! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT NOT COMING BACK TIL THE LAST CHAPTER YOU BETTER GET YOUR SORRY BEHIND BACK HERE SO YOU CAN TAKE YOUR POUNDING LIKE A MAN!! AND I STILL HAVE TO PUNISH YOU FOR MY AIBOU'S SAKE!!

**Masaka: **I feel so loved!

**Nero: **By way, if you is confused as to how many chapters there are in HI then just know thisMasaka want to edit this chapter to make it more sub… substantial...whatever that means…so the chapters get edited and shortened all time now!

**Masaka:** It means I wanted to bring the plot for the later chapters forward and clear up a few personality issues in Nizuki's enthusiasm…as well as work on the freaked out Yami part a bit…ooooh I just love the embarrassed 'I-don't-love-Yugi-do-I?' side of Yami

**Nizuki: **Speaking of sour where is old Pharaoh breeches?

**Yami: **I AM NOT SOUR!!

**Yami Masaka: **YOU!!** lunges onto Yami **

**Yami: **ACK WHAT DID I DO??

**Masaka: **Well let's see for one you ran out on Yugi and we had to give him most of my secret stash of candy to make him feel better, then you double-timed me on your muses duties and then you** Yami smacks his hand over Masaka's mouth **

**Yami:** I think I get it tha-ANKS!! **gets tackled by Yami Masaka again **

**Yami Masaka: eyes flaming in anger **SCREAM YOU LITTLE WORM!! I WON'T LET ANYONE GET AWAY WITH BACKSTABBING MY AIBOU!!

**Yami: **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!

**Masaka: **YAMI!! STOP IT!!

**Nero: even bigger watery eyes **Oh no! No fighting!!

**Yami Masaka: looks over at her aibou and her bishounen **well...if you say I should give him mercy then so be it let's Yami go

**Yami: spinning eyes **ouch

**Nizuki: **HEY YUGI!!

**Yugi: **Yes wha-YAMI!!

**Yami: blushes and stands up more dignified **um h-hi aibou

**Yugi: **YOU CAME BACK YOU CAME BACK!!** glomps onto Yami **

**Yami: extreme blush **

**Nizuki: **AAAAAAWWWWH! Ain't that so sweet?

**Masaka: **OOOH!! Need to glomp something now...looks** around hey**...my bishounen ran...away... ACK HE'S GONE TO DESTROY HUMANITY!!

**Yami Masaka: **Or he just got tired of hanging around here and decided to leave taking your CD player with him

**Masaka**: WHAT?** big watery eyes **

**Yami and Nizuki: **AWH great now you've done it

**Masaka**: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!! MY BISHOUNEN HATED ME!!** Rivers of tears pour out from Masaka's eye **

**Nero: **EEP!!** flaps up to the safety of the air **

**Nizuki**: Hold on love-birds** picks up Yami and Yugi and flies up as well **

**Yami Masaka: **HEY!! W-what about me?

**Nizuki: **Hey you started Noah's flood, now you have to stop it

**Masaka: **WWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!! NO BISHOUNEN LIKES ME!! WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!


	10. Slimy Su and a Stupid Duck

drop Masaka: sniff sorry minna-san I've really been meaning to review sniff, sniff

**Masaka: sniff** sorry minna-san I've really been meaning to review **sniff, sniff**

**Yami Masaka: glum expression** . . .

**Masaka: drying of some stray** **tears** w-why are you so **sniff** glum about **sniffle **yami-kun?

**Yami Masaka:** . . .

**Nizuki:** I think she feels bad about making you cry **earlier mopping up the saltine-tear covered ground **

**Yami Masaka: turns face off in opposite direction** . . .mmhn

**Masaka: rubbing her pink rimmed eyes and trying to smile as brightly as possible without looking weird** I know you didn't mean to make me cry yami-kun, you're not like Yami Malik

**Yami Masaka: super glum expression **

**Nero:** Not even when Nero offered my super duper secret candy stash did mistress Yami Masaka not look so glum **sponge drying the wet lower walls **

**Masaka:** WHA**!! looks at Yami Masaka in shock** yami-kun! That's not like you at all!

**Yami Masaka:** WILL YOU QUITE CALLING ME YAMI-KUN!

**Masaka**: Oh sorry! **blinks in surprise**

**Yami Masaka:** It makes me feel like you HAVE to be polite to me, I don't like it, I liked it better when you called me Yami Masaka

**Masaka:** Yami. . .Masaka. . .kun?

**Yami Masaka: twitch** I don't think I like that any better actually

**Masaka:** Well... whoever, you shouldn't be upset because I'm OK now and I can continue with the chapter **smiles like that is the best thing in the world **

**Yami Masaka:** Yes well you do that I have some. . .pressing business to address **walks off**

**Masaka: Blinks curiously what** type of pressing business. . .Nizuki what do you think she's going to do?

**Nizuki: shrugs** really I didn't expect her to get that upset about you crying. . . guilty yes, THAT guilty defiantly not

**Nero:** Maybe she went to go get you some more candies to replace the ones she ate earlier this week?

**Masaka**: Maybe. . .OOOOH!! Maybe she'll go and raid a Petshop of Horrors story and bring back some strawberry cake, or fruit tart or chocolate cake or-

**Nizuki:** STOOOOP! You're making me hungry! pouty **'great-now-I-have-to-hunt- down-a-snack' look on her face **

Masaka: Let's get this chapter done so we can eat then!

CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART

The bus-ride and the following walk downtown towards the convention center went by in awkward silence. From what Yugi could tell Yami seemed to be brooding over something; at first Yugi tried to ignore it but soon it began to bother him.

After all how can you enjoy a 'date' with an incredible, hot and outrageous charming spirit when he refuses to say anything? Well…yes there was also the fact that Yugi wasn't allowed to really stare at Yami in the way he wanted that was making things little less enjoyable but that was sort of beside the point.

/Do you not want to spend the day with me Yami?/ Yugi frowned.

That seemed to snap Yami out of his thoughts because he blinked owlishly and looked curiously over at Yugi.

/What? Why do you think I wouldn't want to spend the day with you, Yugi?/ Yami asked.

/Well you haven't so much as said 'hmm' in the last five minutes/ Yugi frowned.

Yami eyes went even wider in surprise. He'd been so deep in thought that he didn't think about what Yugi thought about how he was silently thinking.

(**Masaka:** I could have made that more clear but I like this complicated sentence **chibi smile**)

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to be so standoffish," Yami said in an apologetic tone.

"Standoffish? Yami, have you been stealing my dictionary again?" Yugi grinned.

He was referring to a time back when Yami was nothing more then a spirit in the back of his mind. He'd taken Yugi's dictionary right out of his bag because he was fed up with not being up to date on the language, after all in his time certain words didn't even exist.

Yami blushed and frown playfully indignant, "oh course not … It's just…if I wish to present myself in a manner that is …no I mean."

"You have to sound impressive enough for all your graceful speeches to our many adoring fans out in the world, I understand," Yugi winked tauntingly.

Yami made a gagging sound and grimaced as if he were in pain. Yugi laughed happily. It had been so long since he'd been able to enjoy this.

SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE

Nizuki frowned down at Nero. For the last five minutes she'd been trying to wake him up. She'd planned go spy on Yugi's date and pick up some insight on their relationship but she knew it wouldn't count if Nero wasn't with her. This was HIS wish after all…despite his lack of work on it.

"When you take into consideration that angels don't really sleep it's INCREDIBLE how hard it is to wake him up," Nizuki frowned.

"I'm sure he's probably still trying to recuperate after getting his wing broken, fractures healing can make you pretty tired," Ryou shrugged (1).

"I suppose you know this from experience?" Nizuki growled.

"Err…well…Nizuki don't get that look I've gotten hurt without Bakura's aide a lot of times. Not everything that's bad in my life come from him," Ryou blushed looking away.

"Sorry Ry-chan," Nizuki huffed, her feathers ruffling with at her agitation. "It's just there is something about that…that…YAMI that really puts me on edge! And the way he treats you-"

"He treats me fine. He's just a little bit grumpy when he's drunk…and he's drunk a lot these days," Ryou explained.

Nizuki continued to glare at nothing her eyes growing more and more gold as her agitation built so Ryou quickly stepped in to turn the angel's attention away from the one-hundred ways she could break Bakura into little white-haired bits.

"So how are we going to wake Nero up?" Ryou coughed. Nizuki jerked out of her thoughts and frowned in annoyance. Her wings slowly slid back beneath her windbreaker as she did.

"Honestly I have no idea," Nizuki sighed and pouted, "I mean HONESTLY! I thought this experience would make him grow up at least a LITTLE but no, nope, nada. Not Nero, he will ALWAYS be the sleepy little cherub that I have to pry out of his mattress to get him to class!"

Ryou laughed at the mental image that came to mind. He imagined Nero hugging a cloud mattress against his cheek and Nizuki all fire and glory pulling him fruitlessly by the ankles.

"I've been around him long enough to know! There's just no point in debating it, Nero will ALWAYS be a BABY!" Nizuki finished with an agitated huff. Ryou couldn't help but laugh a little louder.

"It sounds like you an Nero have quite a friendship. You sound like he's your brother almost."

"He's not in my age-division…and he's never been through what I have been through," Nizuki snorted.

"What do you mean by that?" Ryou blinked.

"I mean he's never left Heaven…BARKING MOON! He's never even changed gender."

"Y-You can change gender?" Ryou jolted.

"Angels are neutral, we can take any form we want," Nizuki shrugged. "But Nero is so aggravatingly …he just…ERR! He can't even turn into a butterfly and that's the easy form there is!"

Privately Ryou thought on the South American myth about how monarch butterflies were said to be the souls of the dead transfigured.

'I really should pay more attention to those myths Yugi's jii-san and my father are always bringing up,' Ryou thought to himself.

"…I'm starting to think we should just leave him here," Nizuki sighed as she used her foot to nudge Nero in the ribs, "but then again no. Knowing him he'd end up revealing his true state to the entire neighborhood if we left him here…I swear I think he's not really an angel but a living jinx sometimes."

"I-I think I have an idea…if you'll allow me," Ryou said as a light bulb went off in his head.

Nizuki shrugged and stepped aside; "Be my guest." Ryou knelt down right by Nero's ear.

"Hey Nero you might want to wake up before YUGI leaves," he trumpeted into the little one's ear. Nero sat up almost in the same nanosecond Ryou said that bumping his skull right into Ryou's jaw.

"OOOOUCH!" Ryou yelped leaping backwards. Nero put one hand on his bruised head and sniffled.

"Well I guess that way DID work," Nizuki smiled trying her best not to laugh. Ryou sent her an angry glare anyway. "Okay Nero! You get dressed and prepped! We have a wish to monitor! Ry-chan, you're welcome to come along as well."

Ryou nodded and headed down the attic steps towards his room. He wasn't particularly nosy but he was starting to find himself rather anxious to see his angel in real action. Her battle with Tea had been really uplifting. For some strange reason just the memory of Tea getting charted out the arcade doors made Ryou smile.

Nero simply yawned and picked up some clothes Nizuki had zapped up for him off the floor.

SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE

Ryou grabbed a set of pants and a love-sleeved shirt from his closet and headed for the bathroom. He figured a nice shower would perk him up enough for his little trip today.

'Darn Bakura for keeping such bizarre hours,' Ryou sighed to himself as he turned on the showerhead and stepped into the spray.

Ever since Bakura had returned from the otherworld he spirit had been restless. Despite what Nizuki and everyone else seemed to think Bakura himself wasn't all that bad. Frankly on the few days where Bakura wasn't too drunk, or too antsy, or too shadow-high to actually have a conversation the ex-thief and his hikari got along beautifully.

But Bakura had started drinking more heavily lately, and he was always going out trying to 'settle his debts' with some of the local yakuza. If Ryou actually spent anytime with Bakura these days it was time spent mending his wounds.

'But at least I have Nizuki,' Ryou smiled to himself. But almost as soon as that thought had come it left. He'd talked over things with his angel a little earlier, since they were up so early anyway, and Nizuki had laid some things out for Ryou that he was really worried about.

'_An guardian angel of my ranking doesn't have much time with their protectorate,'_ Nizuki had said. '_It varies from case to case, of course, but generally …well angels will only have a few months to grant their protectorate's soul wish.'_

'_But what if you can't figure out how to make me happy by then? I mean…I-I might need you for a long t-time,'_ Ryou had timidly enquired.

'_Don't doubt me Ryou,' _the angel had chuckled._ 'Despite your rather gloomy outlook on things, I am certain I can improve things for you in time for my Christmas departure.'_

'_If…if you say so.'_

The mere thought of losing Nizuki though it had only been two days since she'd arrived…well it really, REALLY hurt. He'd already loved more than he ever wanted to…and had had that love painfully prove too little to change things. Like his mother…and…his…sister…

Ryou tried to turn his thoughts to more cheerful matters as he scrubbed his hair with shampoo.

"Think about what you're going to do today Ryou," he told himself, "you can help your friend get together with the love of his life."

Unfortunately that line of thought didn't help because it only reminded him of his own lack of relationships. His very, very, very GREAT lack of relationships.

"Ugh. I think Nizuki is right, I do have a gloomy outlook on life," Ryou berated himself.

After washing off thoroughly Ryou turned off the water and pulled a towel off the towel rack and began to dry off.

He wrapped the towel around his waist and was about to redress when the door swung open and something tackled him, making the floor came rushing up to meet him.

'KONK!'

"Ryou-friend-of-Yugi-sama-san!! Don't be sad!! You make me sad when you sad!" a very familiar sweet voice said somewhere above him.

"Nero? What …are you," a pained groan escaped Ryou's lip, "are you doing?"

"No be sad!! Nizuki make wish true and you be happy always after, I promise!" Nero squeaked in a tearful voice squeezing Ryou's waist tighter to the point of almost stopping his breathing.

Ryou was past even trying to count all the things wrong with this situation -him being half-naked, Nero gripping him too low for his liking, how wrong this looked - and was more worried about exactly how he could get out of this situation without setting Nero off even more.

"Um Nero…I'm okay…really…now I'd kind of like to get-"

/Ryou? What the hell is going on? You just broadcasted a lot of pain/

'Crap, just what I need now, a yami in my head,' Ryou flushed.

/O-Oh nothing is…physically wrong, I just got into an awkward …I'm just having a bit of trouble this morning um h-how are you?/ Ryou tried to smooth things over.

"Ryyyyou! You forgot to pick up some socks so I'll just," Nizuki sang as she too entered the bathroom. She paused to take in the scene and then nasty grin.

"Well, well Ry-chan-"

/Ryou? What the hell is going on? Now I can feel shame pouring off of you…is it those stupid kids you invited over? Are they causing trouble-/

/NO! NO TROUBLE!! I'M FINE!!/ Ryou shrieked.

/…Hmph, well even if you aren't, don't come crying to me. This is your mess/ Bakura responded coldly before cutting out of Ryou's mind.

Bakura was like that. One minute Ryou could actually begin to imagine Bakura cared, the next minute he was as far away as he ever had been.

"Nizuki, can you um…peel Nero off of me please," Ryou mumbled into the bathroom tiles. Right now he wished the floor would just swallow him up so he didn't have to deal with life anymore.

"Sure thing, my Ryou," Nizuki winked. She tugged on Nero's good wing and motioned for him to get up.

"OH! I sorry Ryou-friend-of-Yug-sama-san! I didn't mean to splat you!" Nero yelped.

"Nero, being empathic is good, but you have to know when to use it and when to let it go," Nizuki sighed warily, as if she'd given this particular speech many times before.

"But I didn't mean-" Nero whimpered.

"I know you meant well, but remember, sometimes humans need space…. You can snuggle Ryou on the way to the zoo instead," Nizuki said before she turned and left the bathroom.

"Okie-dokie!" Nero said following her like a baby gosling.

Ryou just lie on the floor a little longer.

'If this is what Yugi dealt with when he first met Nero I have been seriously underestimating his weird-stuff tolerance level…that boy must be as gracious as a Buddha to get through life like this,' Ryou thought dismally.

"RYOU! GET UP AND GET DOWN HERE! BREAKFAST IS READY!!"

"RIGHT!" Ryou called back weakly.

'Maybe having a Christmas deadline isn't such a bad thing after all.

SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE

Yami couldn't help but chortle slightly at how silly his aibou's face looking pressed against the convention center's glass doors.

"Oh don't you even start," Yugi snapped spinning and giving his other very weak –though probably seriously meant- glare.

"I do apologize," Yami said; his tone was sincere enough but there was a smile twitching in the corners of his mouth and an annoyingly amused look in his eye.

"Hmmph I should have known it would be too early for this place to be open," Yugi sighed.

Sunday in Domino City equated to a third of the town's day-off. Not to many things other than churches and the occasional convenience store opened before noon on Sunday.

"Yes, you should have," Yami snickered. He couldn't help himself though; Yugi looked just like a kid that had been told he was not to play another game for the next two months.

Yugi either didn't hear his other or decided it wasn't worth the effort to come up with a come back and he sighed thoughtfully to the sky.

"So what should we do now?" Yugi asked.

"The park should be open, we could walk around there I suppose," Yami shrugged.

"Just walking around would be boring," Yugi said sticking his tongue out, "why don't we go to the zoo in the park instead?"

"As you wish," Yami said bowing in a princely fashion. Yugi rolled his eyes but couldn't help the smile breaking out on his cherub face; he was one of the few people that got to see this lighter more sociable side of Yami.

The roads were slow, only the adult business-peoples like Seto (cough-workaholic-nutcases-cough) were up and about. But even these slaves to the business wheel were relaxed.

There were no teens lurching up the road as they learned how to work a stick-shift, no grandmas clogging the streets, all in all it was pretty peaceful.

"And this is the cue for some deranged lunatic to blow up the street," Yugi muttered to himself.

"What was that aibou?" Yami asked shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Nothing…I was just thinking about how nice it is to enjoy a quiet morning instead of one filled with threats from deranged ex-tomb-robbers or former tomb-guards," Yugi said his arms folded behind his head; he'd picked the habit up from Joey.

"Ah yes, I thought there was something lacking from the usual atmosphere," Yami chuckled more to himself then Yugi, not that Yugi really would have noticed; currently his mind was hundreds of miles away. He couldn't help but think how his little angel friend was. He was sort of worried if Nero would cause Ryou too much trouble.

"Aibou," Yami asked. Yugi blinked curiously up at him. "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh um just…" Yugi blushed, "nothing let's hurry up."

Yami looked at his aibou suspiciously and quickened his pace to keep up with his partner.

(A/N: OOH darn! How come that doesn't have anything to do with a relationship?)

"You're thinking about Nero aren't you?" Yami asked. Yugi's steps stopped almost instantly and he jerked around face red.

"H-how did you, I wasn't using the mind-"

"He is your koi, right? So…I just supposed you would be thinking of him," Yami frowned. Yugi's face turned an even darker shade of red.

"He's…oh …well…I'm just sort of worried about him…a-about if he's okay um with I mean," Yugi bumbled.

Yami frowned. Even when the little pipsqueak wasn't here he was first in Yugi's thoughts ...Wait! Why was that so bad? Oh yes of course! It was bad because he and Yugi were supposed to be hanging out today. That was why it bothered him.

"Ah don't worry about the little…don't worry yourself aibou…it's only one day after all; how much trouble could he get into," Yami frowned moodily crossing his arms over his chest.

"ALOT," Yugi whined with a frown on his face.

"That much a klutz huh?" Yami asked.

"No so much a klutz as…well unaware; spacey sort of," Yugi tried to explain.

"So you act like the babysitter?" Yami asked with a smirk.

"Not so much that as a…tutor, Nero doesn't really understand everything…in Japan," Yugi added quickly.

"Well there's quite a bit of difference between America's culture and Japan's...Nero is from America right?" Yami said.

"Land of Hopes," Yugi smiled cryptically. He then went silent for a while, just walking. A thought stuck him then and he burst out in laughter.

Yami looked at him curiously. "What are you laughing about, aibou?"

"I was just thinking about how I taught you about Japanese culture. Compared to you Nero is a joy," Yugi snorted. Yami blushed.

"Hey! It's not my fault! I've been stuck in a puzzle for the last five thousand years!" Yami practically whined. His statement caused a passing runner to look at them oddly, shake his head then continue on his way.

Both Yami and Yugi watched him leave then they both burst out into laughter.

"Still Yami, you have to admit you were pretty pathetic to begin with," Yugi giggled.

"True…Hey, do you remember the first time I tried to use the microwave?" Yami snickered.

"Do I ever, I was scrapping macaroni off the ceiling for hours! I think there's still a cheese stain up there," Yugi whined. He held a pouting frown for a few minutes but burst into another round of giggles. "But it was worth it to see the horrified look on Grandpa's face."

"God, if you'd been raised by anyone else I'd still be grounded to this day," Yami groaned.

"You're probably right," Yugi smiled. Yami smiled back, his heart for some reason feeling extremely light in his chest.

(A/N: **Masaka:** That's the power of love Yami-babe **releases a baby cupid into the air, which turns around and shoots Masaka with a dozen arrows** XP Ouch)

The dueling duo continued to walk towards the park talking about how Yami hadn't been very good at any machinery when he had gotten his own body when they heard a familiar voice.

"Welcome to Domino Zoo, the Wildest place in Japan," a penguin suit said, waving flyers less then enthusiastically.

"Hey mommy, look at the stupid duck!" some little girl squealed pulling on her mother's arm.

Even in a penguin suit the tell-tell veins of anger appeared on the person's head. "I AIN'T A DUCK, YOU STUPID LITTLE-"

"Joey is that you?" Yugi gapped in shock as he walked up.

The penguin turned from the girl -who was blowing a raspberry in the blonde's direction at the moment while the child's mother groaned and rolled her eyes skyward as if to ask why her child had to be such a brat- and looked at Yugi.

"Yug' what are you doin' here so early?" Joey asked pulling up the black mesh mask so he could see properly.

"Yami and I are hanging out together today, and since almost nothing good is open at this time of morning we decided to come here," Yugi smiled as his yami came walking up to stand beside him.

Yami's crimson eyes scanned over Joey's …interesting apparel and he cocked a slender eyebrow and asked, "What on earth are you doing dressed in that outfit?"

Joey sighed depressed. "It's one of my many new part-time jobs," Joey's head dropped lowered, "this is actually an improvement from what I was doin'."

"I don't think I'll ask," Yami said shaking his head. Yugi smiled sympathetically at his friend.

"Good thing is I don't have ta do much, just stand here lookin' stupid and passin' out flyers," Joey said pulling out a piece of yellow paper from under his flipper and holding it out to Yugi.

On the sheet was a computer cartoon of a killer whale flipping in the air with a wave of water behind him. On top in insanely big black letters was written 'COME SEE THE AMAZING 'WET WORLD' SHOW!' and below that was a list of times and the zoo's address.

"Wet World?" Yugi asked.

"Dun look at me, our nerdy manager came up with de name," Joey shrugged, "his dad let him have a job here cuz owns the zoo," Joey shrugged, which since he was in a penguin suit, looked absolutely ridiculous. It was something that Yami couldn't help but point out.

"Hey, it could have been worse I could have been put in a dog costume again," Joey said shuttering after he said that.

"That's true," Yami laughed as Yugi also burst into laughter.

"JOEY WHEELER!!" A nasally, squeaky voice yelled from behind them.

"Oh shit," Joey cursed softly. He sighed and grinned turning around to face a very acne-faced red head.

"What do you think you are doing?" the boy asked as he pushed his fat coke-bottle black framed glasses up his long nose.

"Oh um well I was just talkin' to-" Joey started to explain when he got bopped on the head with a rolled up 'Management Digest' magazine.

"I'm not paying you to talk with your nerdy little friends!" the boy shrieked. He turned to glare at the two tri-colored-haired boy and then he seemed to realize who they were.

"Holy hamburgers!" (A/N: don't ask) the now slightly paler red-faced teen squealed, "y-you're Yami Motu, an-and Yugi Motu!"

Yami sneered and crossed his arms over his chest. Yugi sighed at the attention.

"Oh excuse me, EXCUSE me," the boy said giving a deep unbalanced bow, "uh I didn't see you, I mean I didn't well err…you came to OUR zoo, well um ah how about free passes in and tickets to the Wet World show?"

"That's not really ness-" Yugi started.

"Now, now Yugi, I think we should let the man apologize," Yami interrupted.

"Yes, l-let me apologize. Joey! Get the two of them tickets, I have to go check on the hippos again,"

the boy ordered before disappearing through the rotating barred zoo entrance.

When the boy was out of sight both Joey and Yami burst into almost maniacal laughter while Yugi just rolled his eyes and sighed unhappily.

"My GOD that was great, he deserves it too, the ass," Joey said giving a vulgar (though you couldn't see it through his costume's flipper) one-fingered gesture after the red-head.

"So was that your boss?" Yugi asked politely.

"Ya, Su Dorgain," Joey said with a bright grin, "he hates it when we call him by his first name."

"Has he ever heard of acne-cream?" Yami snorted.

"Dun know, but he sure thinks he's hot stuff, can't see why though," Joey said, "so how about I get you guys those tickets?"

"Joey, I don't think it would be fair for us to get free-" Yugi began.

"Don't sweat it Yug', Bore-gain gives free passes to his girlfriends all the time," Joey said as he walked (or more appropriately waddled) over to the ticket booth.

Inside the booth were three other teens dressed in animal costumes, each looking as depressed as the last.

"Hey Joey I thought you were supposed to be passing out flyers?" a rather attractive brunette male dressed in an alligator costume questioned.

"I am, just have ta get a few tickets out for some more of Su's 'guests'," Joey said as he pulled off a flipper so he could actually work the machines to get the tickets.

A black-haired girl in a cheetah costume looked out at Yugi and Yami and gagged. "My God, Su's going after guys too now?"

"NONE OF US ARE SAFE!!" a boy with electric blue hair dressed in a shark costume yelled in theatric horror.

"Nah, he's just trying to inspire celebrity attention ta de zoo," Joey said ripping the two tickets off as they popped out of the slot.

"Hey! That guy's Yami Motu, and the littler guy's Yugi Motu!" The alligator gapped.

"OOOh, could you get me their autography?" Cheetah asked. Joey rolled his eyes at her.

"Hey Joey, can we please get our tickets now?" Yugi asked sort of embarrassed.

"Ya sure, I just have a friend here who would love your autograph," Joey said.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind gettin' your phone number either," the shark winked at Yugi. Yami growled while his aibou blushed.

"Oh shut up Jaws!" Cheetah growled at him.

"Whatever you say Cat Woman," the shark grinned.

"Well uh…what should we sign?" Yugi asked feeling VERY embarrassed. He thought people were over this whole celebrity thing already.

"Oh how about this," Cheetah said pulling a flyer from Joey and slipping it through the ticket pass.

"Okay," Yugi sweat-dropped as he quickly wrote his name down. Yami jotted his name down as well and then passed it back.

"Thank you SOOO much!" Cheetah squealed happily. Yugi blushed again.

"Well here are your tickets guys," Joey said passing over the zoo passes and Wet World tickets.

"Thanks Joey," Yugi said taking the tickets and pulling Yami along before he could do any more mooching.

CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND

**Yami Masaka: comes charging in huffily** Hey Nizuki, Nero, where's my aibou?

**Nizuki: looks up from her nice game of chess** with Nero Huh oh she's in her authoress fourth wall roo-

**Yami Masaka: charging away before Nizuki finishes** alright thanks

**Nizuki: wide-eyed blink** what the heck was that about

**Nero: moves a piece and smiles at Nizuki** Checkers-mate

**Nizuki: looks at the chess board and groans knocking over her king in defeat** chess, Nero, it's chess

**Masaka:** THAT **pulls a Cupid's arrow out of her head** took SO** pulls out another arrow** LONG!!

**Yami Masaka: shoves cage right in Masaka's face** here I got you something to make up.

**Masaka: blinks and opens the cage pulling out what looked like a giant white fur ball with a nose** what is it?

**Yami Masaka:** WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WHAT IS IT' IT'S A DOG!! **annoyed that her present isn't appreciated**

**Masaka:** Well I don't **suddenly the cupid's arrows take affect and she glomps the dog **I DON'T KNOW HOW TO THANK YOU!!

**Yami Masaka: blinks in surprise at the sudden change in** behavior Uh...your welcome...I guess

**Masaka:** Oh who's a good doggy-woggy? YOU'RE a good doggy-woggy! **hearts bubbling off her head**

**Yami Masaka**: Oh but you might want to watch out I bought him from Count D so he might be, I don't know, a werewolf dog or something

**Masaka:** You are the cutest wootest little doggy-woggy ever! I'm gonna call you Jason, after the boy I first kissed cuz I already love you THAT much okay Jason?

**Yami Masaka:** This is really weird **scratches her head**

**Nero:** Hello peoples **waves then clears his throat** And so another chapter passes. Yugi and Yami have gotten free passes into the park, but what awaits them in their day of play? Can Nizuki, Ryou and Nero really get the two together when they only have a day? Will Tea run into the dueling duo first and ruin everything or will love conquer all? Review to find out.

**Masaka:** OH, OH, OH!! I LOVE ALL REVIEWERS!! **glomps audience** YOU ARE WONDERFUL PEOPLE REALLY!!

**Jason:** RRRRRuff **plops down on the group and naps**

**Masaka:** Isn't he the bestest doggy in the world? **heart bubble off her in even greater numbers falling down all over Yami Masaka**

**Yami Masaka:** My aibou is truly insane but she can't help it so please review


	11. Trouble With Claws

Masaka: Ahh! It so GREAT to be plugged back in

Jason: Woof **flops down to nap**

Yami Masaka: **sweat drop** does that dog do anything but sleep?

Masaka: YAMI! HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY DEAR POOCHIE! **clutches Jason protectively**

Yami Masaka: **sighs and clutches her temples with one hand** I'm really starting to think getting you that DOG was a bad idea

Masaka: Well too bad **sticks out tongue**

Nizuki: **stretching** YAWWWN! Man, I'm tired

Masaka: Nizuki look after Jason while I go get some snacks to eat while I do this chapter, I don't trust yami with him

Nizuki: **salutes** Roger chieftess

Yami Masaka: Aibou! You really don't trust me!

Masaka: Not so far as my dog is concerned. Remember when you blew up my chemistry binder because you didn't like the look of those equations? Anything you don't like you blow up

Yami Masaka: I wouldn't blow up your dog . . . well not that badly

Masaka: Suuuure **walks off to the kitchen**

Nizuki: **watching Yami Masaka very closely**

Yami Masaka:** glares** Oh stop that!

Jason: **also staring at Yami Masaka** ruff

"I can't believe you made him give us these tickets," Yugi frowned over his shoulder at his dark-half as he walked through the entrance gate, his ticket already passed in.

"Well it's not like he didn't deserve some intimidation," Yami said as he walked in right behind his light. "A man who's that unsupportive to his underlings should be taken down a peg or two."

Yugi sighed. Threats were just part of Yami's character. He was just glad that the older boy had stopped challenging people to shadow games. To date almost two-thirds of Domino's Group-7 Senior class were insane, missing, and/or neurotic.

"So where should we go first?" Yami asked.

"I'd like to see the penguins first," Yugi said pointing to the path that led to the aquatic mammals.

"Whatever you wish hikari," Yami shrugged. Yugi smiled gratefully at him and took lead.

"When's the last time we've actually come here," Yami asked after a little while.

"Well for you it probably has been three or four months, but I've come here a lot," Yugi said casually.

"Really?" Yami asked slightly surprised.

"Uh-huh, it's nicer hanging around here then in a silent house," Yugi said normally.

Yami winced slightly at that. He kept forgetting that Yugi was the only one of the group that wasn't always busy. And he kept forgetting that Yugi's life wasn't just suspended until Yami got home.

It was selfish to think that way he knew but if he didn't think of it like that he'd probably drive himself insane worrying over his lighter half.

"Well. . .what about Nero?" Yami asked.

"I haven't had very many dates with him," Yugi replied in complete honesty.

"Oh. . .So. . .Why do you come here?" Yami asked awkwardly.

"Why?" Yugi shrugged, "I don't know it's just fun to watch I guess. The penguins and tigers are my favorites."

"Tigers, really? I would have thought your favorite would be something I don't know...cuddlier?" Yami snickered.

"Oh please, I'm not all goodie-goodie you know," Yugi snorted.

"Really? What's one thing you've done wrong?" Yami asked crossing his arms.

"Well..." Yugi trailed off.

_'Well I'm pining after someone else's boyfriend and am sort of planning with my friend and his angel to steal said boy away,_' his mind hissed accusingly.

"See, you are about as dark as Oreo filling," Yami grinned.

"I skip out of school during lunch," Yugi said matter-o-factly. He didn't mention the fact that he skip out because his lunches were usually either nabbed from him or he never had time to make one with the hundreds of chores he had to go around the Game Shop.

"Weak, that's barley what I'd calling breaking the rules," Yami frowned playfully. Yugi smiled back and gave the older boy a light shove.

"Your idea of rule-breaking would be sending teachers to the psychiatric ward and using shadow powers to explode open lockers of stalker-girls."

"Hey! That was a one time thing; the woman wouldn't leave me alone!" Yami said in his defense.

"Hai, hai, I believe you Yami," Yugi said with a very contradicting smile.

"Hey!" Yami frowned. He wrapped his arm around Yugi's neck and gave the younger a nuggie.

"Lemme go! Lemme go!" Yugi said struggling to get away and at the same time struggling to keep breathing because he was laughing so much.

Finally after much pleading on Yugi's part Yami let go.

"Next time you might want to show more respect to a former pharaoh," Yami said with a cocky smirk.

"Yes, your highness," Yugi said with a mocking bow.

Just then they heard some commotion from over at the lion pen.

(A/N: Cue the comic book music DADADADADA)

"OH MY GOD! HELP! SOMEONE! HELP!"

Because they were so honed for life-threatening emergency Yugi and Yami immediately ran towards the source of the screaming.

It was rather anti-climactic that the only scene of trouble was a woman keeled over on the sidewalk screaming as though her eyes were being gouged out.

"Ma'am what's wrong?" Yugi asked politely while Yami grumbled in the background about 'why does trouble follow us around ALL THE TIME?'

"MY BABY!" The woman said pointing down into the pin.

Sitting quite peacefully and unaware of the danger he was in a little brown-haired boy sat near the edge of the cage playing with dirt. The lions hadn't seemed to notice him yet.

"How did he get down there?" Yami asked seriously. Yugi blinked up at his other-half in confusion. Just a second ago the dark boy didn't seem to care in the least about this woman's troubles.

'_Inbred hero impulse, I guess,' _Yugi sighed in slight annoyance.

"He-he was leaning over the fence to-to get a closer look an-and then h-he slipped, I tried to c-catch him b-but," the woman sobbed looking as though she'd break down into hysterics again any second.

"Don't worry ma'am it will be okay," Yugi said as gently as he could. He looked helplessly at his other.

"Yugi, you go and get help and I'll go and try to keep the lions away from the boy," Yami said.

"Okay Yami, be careful," Yugi said.

Yami gave a –rather cocky- thumbs-up then vaulted over the fence and slid down the steep hill that lay just beyond it.

Yugi headed back towards the front-gate to get Joey. The blonde worked here so he would know what to do in a situation like this.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Meanwhile back at the gates Ryou and crew were having some troubles of their own.

"LISTEN YOU PIMP-RIDDEN DORK I DON'T LIKE YOU, SO LEAVE ME ALONE!" Nizuki roared at the Zoo Manager Su.

"Awwh don't be so harsh muffin, I know when to take a hint," Su said with a smirk. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three zoo passes. "Here take these along with my sincerest apologies, but just think about my offer. I am rather well off after all."

Nizuki snatched the tickets from the man's hand still glaring hard.

In her mind she kept running Angel Code Rule 002-A-Alpha: 'An angel shall not strike a human', 'an angel shall not strike a human', 'an angel shall not strike a human.'

"And maybe if you change your mind you could bring this cutie along with us," Su grinned twirling a lock of Nero's hair round and around his greasy finger.

'KA-POW!'

Nizuki frowned down at the now unconscious grease ball in anger steam coming off her knuckles and off the rather impressive lump on the dork's head.

Nizuki didn't care about rules anymore, NO ONE dare touch Nero in such an unmannerly way while NIZUKI was around, especially not a red-head grease monkey feeding off daddy's money like Su Dorgain.

"Uh Nizuki I think you may have hit him a little too hard," Ryou said gently.

"Hey, if I hadn't he'd probably have been hitting on you next!" Nizuki said defensively.

Ryou looked at the now drooling unconscious grease-ball and shuttered.

"See," Nizuki snipped.

"Yes, t-thank you. Forget what I said," Ryou said as he leaned heavily against Nizuki's shoulder, trembling all over from mental trauma.

"Icky man got yuck in my hair!" Nero whined cutely.

(A/N: He can't act otherwise!)

Nizuki gave the boy a sympathetic pat on the head and then headed towards the gate. Ryou took Nero's hand and followed.

"Tickets please... thank you. Tickets please... thank you. Tickets please... thank you."

A brunette in an alligator costume stood taking and ripping people's tickets as they passed through the gate.

(A/N: yes, I know WE know him but Ryou, Nizuki and Nero don't)

"LOOK OUT!" Came a sudden cry from past the zoo gate.

Suddenly alligator boy came crashing down into Ryou pinning the white haired boy spread-eagle on the ground.

"Uh... hi?" The teen grinned cavalierly.

"Hi," Ryou returned with a sheepish smile of his own.

"Yugi," Nizuki said in shock as she recognized the alligator attacker. "Yugi, what's wrong?"

"Yami...Huff baby in lion pin...huff helping...Huff...need help," Yugi wheezed.

"What!" The brunette in the costume yelled he moved to get up but only ended up flopping back onto Ryou resulting in a breathless 'OOF' from both of them.

Yugi and Nizuki helped pull the teen off their friend and made sure the brunette was balanced before letting him go.

"Kid, uh...Yugi, I mean, are you saying that the older kid with you, Yami, is IN the lion pen?" The alligator asked.

"Yes!" Yugi yelped, "I-I mean he's swift and stealthy but I-"

"Against lions, he won't do that well, I understand," he nodded.

He looked Yugi over very critically, as if weighing his options about helping then motioned for the group to follow him and waddled as fast as he could to a zoo's emergency telephone.

"Kuso ...I have ... the numbers for inside the zoo ...in here somewhere," the boy cursed patting down his costume.

"I'll go run over to the cage; give an extra pair of eyes to Yami," Nizuki said calmly.

Ryou noticed the sunlight bottle she'd showed him earlier was clutched in her hand.

"HEY LADY!" Alligator yelled after the blonde, "YOU CAN'T JUST …and there she goes."

"Don't take it personally, Nizuki doesn't listen to anyone too well," Ryou pouted after his angel.

Yugi bent down and picked up a little strip of paper covered with numbers, "Is this the number you were looking for?

"Huh…oh, yes… OH! YES! Thank you!" the alligator said taking the paper from Yugi.

He picked up the phone and made to dial but his foam covered fingers banged on at least three numbers at the same time.

"KUUUUUSSSSOOOOO!"

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Three lionesses and a very proud male lion were all lounging under the trees in their pen.

Their giant teeth glittered brightly when they yawned, sending shivers down Yami's spine.

"Okay Yami, you can do this. If you were able to face down a faceless hoard of soul-stealing shadow creatures, then you can handle a small pack of lions, no problem," Yami told himself.

That didn't stop his knees from buckling but it did make him walk over to the child instead of creeping around behind the tress like he wanted to. Making sure to step in a way that kept him out of the breeze Yami cautiously tip-toed over to the child.

"Hi!" the little brunette chirped at Yami.

"Hi there, you know you shouldn't be playing in here," Yami said trying not to sound to demanding or angry.

The only reason he had been able to manage this tone was because he didn't particularly feel like being lion chow.

"Akio!" the boy said pointing to himself, "what your name?"

"It's Yami," Yami gritted.

He really, REALLY wanted to just smack the boy over the head and get the heck out of here but he knew he couldn't. Well…no he could, if he didn't mind sleeping on the streets for a month because he knew Yugi would NOT forgive him for striking a kid.

"I like name!" Akio (which incidentally means 'bright boy') squealed happily.

"Akio, we have to leave this is NOT a place to play," Yami said with an edge of urgency as he saw one of the lions get up, it eyes glowing a strange red that made Yami think of all the demented massacre movies he'd been encouraged to watch by his friends over the years.

He especially remembered the ones were the main hero got a limb chomped off.

"I made mud pie," Akio said holding up a large lump of dirt, grass and earthworms.

"Akio! We have to leave NOW!" Yami hissed.

Akio just looked at Yami in complete confusion.

'GAAAH! This is too dangerous! FORGET the subtle approach,' Yami growled.

He scooped Akio up into his arms, ignoring the boy's squirming and headed towards the less steep edge of the cage.

Unfortunately for Yami it wasn't going to be that simple. The slope was much too steep for him to climb by himself much less with a toddler in his arms.

Also it seemed the lions finally seemed to notice there was someone else in their habitat because they'd all gotten up and were now strolling towards the pair.

Yami was mentally trying to calculate just how to keep the lions calm when Akio ruined all his plans. The little brat wriggled around in Yami's arms until his mouth was free then he let out an ear-piercing scream guaranteed to agitate a safari beast.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! MOMMY, MOMMY, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Shi-," Yami said biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from yelling at the very squirmy child he was holding.

Three sleek females began to stalk towards Yami and the child in attacking position.

The child continued to squirm and squirm until he managed to fall from Yami's arms and run away to the other side of the lion pin.

Once out of sight, Yami had no capacity left to worry about him. His attention was all on the two lionesses stalking right at him. They leaned heavily back on their hind-legs and prepared to leap. Yami clenched his eyes closed in preparation from the inevitable and could have swore he felt lion breath beating down on his neck when-

KERPLOK

The sound of bone hitting stone rang through the air like a gunshot. Yami looked up and saw the lioness had rammed headfirst into a giant boulder that Yami hadn't noticed before.

"HEY YAMI!"

Yami looked up to see a honey-haired teen girl skidding surfer style down the steep hill that rolled into the lion pit.

"Nizuki?" Yami asked in shock. Who could blame him?

"Hiya," Nizuki said giving a little boy-scout salute. In one hand Yami could see a strange looking bottle.

"What's that?" Yami asked.

"Oh this?" Nizuki asked blinking innocently. "It's just a little something that I will now use to send these lions to sleep."

"That would be greatly appreciated," Yami said backing away a few steps from the lions.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

To say that things were bad would be understatement; to say they were at their worst would be closer to the situation at hand.

It was two teens against a very agitated looking lioness, with a scream babe to watch out for.

Well...that's not quite right, one ancient spirit, one angel in disguise and a screaming babe against three very possessed looking lions.

"So um –eh heh-," Yami coughed as he back away gently from the lions, one step at a time, "did you have a plan for helping me out with this or no?"

"Ah, well…" Nizuki looked hesitantly down at her sunlight bottle, "I guess I really didn't."

'_Silver Clouds! What am I going to say my sunlight bottle is? I can't very well tell the truth.'_

"Ah! Well good, that makes me feel loads better," Yami rolled his eyes.

"Hey listen Mister Sassy-Mouth, I came in here to help you! If you're going to be so difficult I can very easily leave you to the beasties," Nizuki snarled, not paying attention to the rather intelligent was the lions were looking at each other.

"Oh! That's right! Yell at me! It's not like I ASKED you to come in here!" Yami snarled, also not noticing how the lions were creeping away from their prey over to the slopes that would lead out of the pin.

"You are about the most selfish-" Nizuki started to yell, she then noticed that there were lions scrambling out the enclosure.

"AH! NO!" Both Yami and Nizuki cried and, without thinking about it, they both summoned their powers and let fly.

KABOOOOOOM!!

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

"…In the lion's pin! …NO SU! …SU! …DAMNIT SU I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR DAD WILL SAY IF YOU START THE ALARM! …DAMNIT DORGAIN I'LL DO IT MYSELF IF I HAVE TO!" the alligator was yelling into the phone.

Behind him –in an office too small to be truly useable- a very worried looked Yugi Motu was pacing.

'Yami will be okay, Yami will be okay, Yami will be okay, Yami will be okay, Yami will be okay, Yami will be okay,' the tinier Motu kept repeating to himself.

Ryou- who was watching over Nero at the same time he was looking over Yugi- was about to say something to ease the tri-colored haired boy's worries when-

KA-BOOOOOOOOM!

The ground shook and things fell off shelves and onto the ground, or people's heads.

"Itai! What the heck was that…No, Su that was a rhetorical question of course I don't expect you to know," the alligator sighed as his employer began to yell.

Just then a whole stream of zoo patrons began to run out of the gates screaming their heads off.

"What the heck- HEY! YOU KID! WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY'S EVERYONE YELLING?" Yugi asked leaning out of the office window.

"The lions are loose! The cage blew up and took out the security for about three other carnivores too!" the brunette yelled before dashing towards the parking lot.

"YAMI!" Yugi yelled, running out blindly to join his other-half.

"YUGI! OH! Don't just…! Hmmph! Fine, if we're going to do it like that!" Ryou sniffed indignantly.

He looked after Yugi then at Nero then after Yugi and then promptly pushed the little angel into the zoo attendant's arms.

"Please forgive me for this impertinence but I do believe my friend needs my help. Stay with the nice gator now, okay Nero?" Ryou bowed before turning and running after his tri-colored haired friend.

"Hey, wait you two!" the teen yelled.

"Yugi-sama! Ryou-san!" Nero called. But the two hikaris were already too far off.

Nero pushed away from the alligator-clad teen, rolled up his rugby shirt's sleeves and charged after his 'master.'

The alligator looked at the phone still in one of his foam-covered hands then after the three bishonens. He then sighed and laid the phone back on the hook.

"Why is it that no one listens to me? Oh well…I never liked this job anyway."

And with that the gator ran off as well.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Yugi wasn't sure exactly what he thought he could do. After all, he didn't have Yami's talent of using shadows and Nizuki way outclassed him at hand-to-hand fighting –at least he got that impression-.

But even so, Yugi just could let his dear dark face mortal peril alone. Yami was probably his greatest weakness that way. Whatever problem, whatever resistance if the pharaoh needed help, Yugi would always be there.

And even if that wasn't so, Yugi would have run after Yami simply because he would never be able to handle it if Yami died without Yugi knowing if he had a chance, romantically, with the older boy.

Yugi's heart didn't properly have a chance to get into a full-on panic when suddenly a slightly charcoal face collapsed over him like a ton of bricks.

"YAMI! Y-You're safe!" Yugi gasped up at the ex-pharaoh.

Yami smiled weakly down at his other-half then looked over his shoulder in paranoia.

"They following us, Nizuki?" he asked to the angel running up behind him.

Yugi couldn't tear his eyes off his other-half though. It was the most inappropriate time to be thinking such thought but right now Yugi was just completely in awe of how handsome Yami looked, even covered in dust.

Often Yugi's friends would ask him if it felt weird having Yami look so much like him. Yugi was never sure how to reply to that question.

In Yugi's mind the two of them were very different. Yami's proud crown of crimson spikes was much more wild and fiery then Yugi's own softer purple-maroon spikes. And their skin-tones were different as well. Yami was more of a light olive or hinted tan and Yugi was…well Yugi was depressingly very pale peach.

Then of course there were the eyes. That was the feature that really separated the pair.

When Yami got his own body, his eyes had returned to the color they had been when he was alive, a deep and penetrating crimson that seared right through a person's soul illuminating every secret. It was an intoxicating color Yugi used to be slightly afraid of.

Yugi's eyes, though many said were gorgeous, didn't seem –at least to him- anywhere near as gorgeous as his other's eyes.

"Yugi?" Yami asked waving a hand in front of Yugi's eyes.

"Huh?" Yugi blinked.

"We have to move. Something uh…happened to the lion's enclosure and um…a few other enclosures as well and now there are predators all over the place," Yami said as he pulled both him and Yugi to their feet.

Yugi sighed at the strain in Yami's voice. He knew all too well what that meant.

Ex-spirit's were terrible for causing great amounts of damage to not only other people but buildings as well. And even though he was beyond exasperated, Yugi couldn't really get mad.

When you were the aibou of a 5,000 year-old spirit you took the disasters as they came with as much mercy and understanding as you could manage.

You would be amazed at how much Ryou had dealt with before his first breakdown from the stress-factor.

"Nizuki! You take Ryou and Nero! I'll take Yugi!" Yami said to the angel before heading off back towards the aquarium where the two boys had originally been headed.

"Uh? Yami! What's going on?" Yugi asked looking back over his shoulder at his three friends.

"Nizuki and I figured it would be better for our group to break up and headed for shelter! These lions are acting very peculiar, almost human, and it would be best for us to make a smaller target. The old divide and conquer strategy," Yami explained as they reached the fake mountain in which the entrance to the penguin exhibit was housed.

"The old…divide and conquer strategy…right," Yugi sighed as he let Yami help him up the mountain facade.

In his mind Yugi was wailing at how much he really disliked the hero-side of Yami. It made trying to hang out with the boy that much more unachievable.

'_This has got to be the worst 'getting-to-know-you-again' non-date there has ever been,' _Yugi sighed as Yami hunkered down next to him.

_Yami leapt to his feet the eye of Horus appearing on his head. But this lioness seemed to recognize the glow as danger because she snagged Yugi's hoodie in her teeth and quickly dragged him away._

"AHHHH!" Yugi yelled as his feet left the ground.

"_Yugi!" Yami yelled. Involuntarily he dimmed the Eye of Horus, it wouldn't do any good now because his aim wasn't good enough to hit just the lioness._

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Nizuki's choice of waiting spot was on-top of the zoo's cafeteria. She hauled Ryou and Nero up there in the twinkling of an eye and then slumped in a half-unconscious sprawl over the roof-tiles.

"W-what in the world did you do! N-Nizuki aren't y-you supposed to be able to handle insanity like this?" Ryou snapped at the angel while moving Nero further away from the edge of the roof out of pure paranoia.

"I do, but I can't use it now," Nizuki said as she stared gravely at the clouds above

"Why not?" Ryou asked with a firm pout.

"Because there is a demonic presence here," Nizuki replied.

"Oh," Ryou said dumbly. It took a moment but then suddenly the full magnitude of that statement hit him. "WHAT!"

"I said there's-"

"WHY WOULD THERE BE DEMONS AROUND HERE!" Ryou screamed.

"I don't know. Same reasons we angels are around I guess, to intervene in human affairs. Maybe they're going to release another influenza epidemic. You know the U.S. is forty-years overdue for one," Nizuki said with a casual shrug.

"Which have nothing to do with us in Japan," Nero noted with some pride.

"WH-WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO!" Ryou yelped.

"Nothing," Nizuki said as she rolled over to her side as if preparing for a nap, "we'll wait for the proper aide up here and do nothing. Hopefully this intense situation will get Yugi and Yami closer together and we'll have done some good today."

"Nizu-" Ryou reached out for his angel. Nero intercepted his hand and shook his head.

"Ryou-friend-of-Yugi-sama-san, you not understand situation like we do. Just 'cuz there is demonic presence around it doesn't essentially mean we are in danger. Demons have as much access to Earth as angels in their own way."

My guess is they are signing another would-be millionaire's soul away," Nizuki said in a not very happy but also not worried tone.

(A/N: I have nothing against rich people. But there are some snobs out there you know, it's those people like the 'Big Five' that's what I'm talking about in this)

"Oh… really?" Ryou said as if he dare not believe it.

"Really. The human world is abuzz with both angelic, spiritual, and demonic energy, everyone comes in contact with a small tendril of it within their lifetime," Nizuki said to her protectorate as she rolled back onto her back.

"If…the demon isn't messing with us…why can't you use your magic?" Ryou asked.

"It's complicated. It was just said a long time ago that active-duty demons and active-duty angels aren't allowed to use their magic at the same time," Nizuki shrugged.

"Why was that?" Ryou asked.

Nizuki shuffled uneasily and reached her hand up to her ear-cuff.

"It just is."

Ryou turned to Nero for clarification

"Is because…we suffered some terrible loses once by mixing powers…and it resulted in something bad."

"Like how bad?" Ryou asked softly.

Nero looked thoughtfully over at Nizuki then answered: "It broke the hearts of every angel in heaven prompting us to cry tears down onto the Earth in a day and night of rain over the entire globe."

Ryou was about to comment on that when there was a great roar from below and a faintly familiar scream.

Both angels and Ryou peered over the lip of their sanctuary to see Darrin holding off a pack of red-eyed wolves with nothing but a mop.

"I-It's that guy!" Ryou called out in shock, "that guy um…umm."

"Zubarro Darrin! I read his name-tag," Nero blinked, "what he doing down there."

"HEY! WHACKO! WHAT KIND OF PERSON RUNS INTO A PREDATOR'S FEEDING GROUND!!" Nizuki yelled down at the guy.

In a show of truly spectacular skill Zubarro smacked down two wolves and hissed oddly at another making it turn-tail and run. He then swiped sweat off his brow and looked up at the group.

"The sort of whacko that is obviously too dumb to consider the people he's worried about know how to handle dangerous situations. I'm glad I found you guys…but where are the two celebs? Yugi and Yami," Zubarro asked.

"Over on the fake mountain range. We decided to split up to cut down on the chances of all of us being make into lion burgers," Nizuki said as she jumped off the building to talk.

Ryou and Nero looked nervously at each-other than hoped down as well.

"Good place to hide, I hadn't even thought you could scale that thing," Zubarro said thoughtfully scratching his chin. He then smiled at the group and held out his hand.

"…What you want a high-five or something?" Nizuki blinked.

Zubarro blushed a spectacular shade of red and shook his head –causing the gator's mouth to make some rather funny expressions-.

"N-no! Keys! Take the keys! They are for some tour-carts parked behind the restaurant! You three can take a pair. One for yourself and another for the two celebs. As fast as lions are they are cheetahs. And I think that they are still domesticated enough to know what things they simply can't attack."

Nizuki blushed herself and gratefully took the trolley keys. She took Nero's hand in her own and sent a mental goad to her suddenly statuesque protectorate to talk to the nice man about his heroics.

Ryou gulped and glowered back at Nizuki for leaving him alone then smiled up at the green-eyed youth.

"U-Um…t-thank you so much for…f-for defying regulations to come get us."

The smile Ryou got in return should have been illegal. It lit up the man's face like a Hollywood spotlight.

"Well I wouldn't be much of a man if I let precious ones, such as you, face trouble without help, would I?"

"O-oh! W-well I…I mean it's just," Ryou blushed darker and darker. While he floundered for words he barraged Nizuki's side of their link with all sorts of desperate pleads for her swift return and yells for her leaving him in such as state.

All of which got a laughing response.

"I better get back to the gates, though," Zubarro sighed regretfully, "Dorgain has probably had an aneurism…and while that doesn't really distress me any-" Ryou laughed despite himself then blushed and slapped his hands over his runaway mouth, "-it does mean someone else will have to direct the emergency response team."

"W-well alright then," Ryou sighed prettily. Luckily before Zubarro could notice Nizuki came back with two mini-jeep like contraptions and she pulled Ryou into the seat beside her.

"Godspeed you three," Zubarro grinned almost as if he were in on some private joke.

"You too," Nizuki said more solemnly before kicking the vehicle into gear.

Nero watched Zubarro for a longer moment, peering deeply at the boy with surprisingly solemn eyes then he turned his own cart to follow his angel-sister.

Zubarro watched them all leave then turned towards the gate. He didn't even notice the female-silhouette in the branches above him.

CHAPTER END!


	12. A Villian Appears!

**Masaka: snuggling Jason without remorse** We're making a good suspenseful story aren't we, puppy-pie?

**Yami Masaka: **Ugh! Just give me a break!

**Nizuki: **Aside from a little time-looping on Masaka's part, this whole chapter is new. It's the missing section of chapter 24! And it's part of the major overhaul this entire zoo excursion is getting. Masaka is really trying to make this story a more clear and focused arrangement.

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART **

Yami was feeling beyond stupid at the moment. He was perched on a plastic mountain covered in bird refuse and who knows what else with his hikari hoping lions couldn't scale plaster walls and hoping he could stay this scrunched for however long it took to be rescued.

All in all he was feeling like the world's biggest failure.

"Well…at least we've gotten 'closer', because of this," Yugi suddenly spoke up.

Yami opened his mouth to question him when he noticed that Yugi wasn't commenting on emotional closer rather than physically closer. There was barely a duel-monster card's worth of space between the two of them right now.

"Not funny," Yami said with a contradictory smile on his lips. Yugi laughed cheerfully.

"Don't be so blue, Yami. You know that the two of us always manage to get into trouble like this and we always come out on top. And just because we're facing mortal peril when we were supposed to be hanging out doesn't mean this day was a waste."

"Oh really? You think being chased by lions is an okay substitute for heart-to-heart discussions?" Yami grinned teasingly.

"Well…it's not like you are too put off by it," Yugi said, suddenly quiet, "you never seem to flinch at jumping into danger…ever."

"Yugi," Yami sighed reaching out for his aibou. Even with so little space Yugi managed to squirm away from hi s touch.

"No, it's okay. I know this isn't intentional…I just worry so much about…. Never mind, it's not important," Yugi sighed heavily.

More than anything Yami which he could haul Yugi into his arms and relieve the boy's pain but for various reason –including the fact that Yugi was still a guy and probably wouldn't appreciate being coddled- he restrained himself.

"…I wouldn't put myself into more danger than I could handle," Yami said quietly.

"Yah," Yugi said. Whether that meant Yugi believed him or not Yami couldn't be sure, but it really didn't matter because before another word could be spoken two short vehicles charged into view.

"Hey there love-birds! The rescue has arrived!" Nizuki said waving wildly from the driver's seat of one of the two trolleys.

"Where did you get those from?" Yami blinked curiously as Yugi slide to the ground and ran over to hug Nero viciously.

"Our dear friend the alligator gave them to us," Nizuki grinned cheekily.

Of course Yami didn't understand what she was referring to but both Yugi and Ryou blushed vicious red. One for having so foolishly plowed the boy over and the other…the other for getting landed upon and not getting near as upset as he should have been.

"Well whatever, I'm just glad you came," Yami said as he slid down the mountain and landed gracefully on his feet.

He then strolled over to where Nero and Yugi were reuniting and with an annoyed cough broke them up.

"Okay chibi, I'm driving," Yami frowned.

"Hey! No fair!" Nero pouted as Yami pushed him aside before Nero could really respond.

"Dominate to the bone, aren't you," Nizuki giggled. Yami just glared at her and instructed Yugi to put on a seat-belt.

Yugi blew a raspberry at his too parental other and took Nero in his arms and strictly didn't buckle in.

Yami rolled his eyes and revved the engine and in a flash they were off.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Away in a very spooky tree a very spooky creature was considering her next move. She had taken into consideration that her prey had great protectors and it was starting to seem as if this whole venture would go to waste.

"_Stupido!_ Why did you bother to take over these creatures if you didn't plan to use them," she smacked herself in the forehead as an evil thought came to her mind. "I'll just have my pets cause a little traffic jam is all!"

With a harsh laugh the woman-creature pulled a very thorny looking bottle from her pocket. She tipped it over and three crimson drops fell to the earth. These drops then turned into three lion silhouettes.

"Shadows! Go to your masters and tell them to stop those jeeps, whatever the cost! _Vaya!"_

The three black shapes bowed reverently then darted off at inhuman speed.

"Ahhhh! It's good to be in control!"

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Yugi was still soothing Nero's hair and trying to make up for his other's crudeness when he noticed the cherub on his lap going unnaturally stiff.

"Nero? Nero? What's wrong?" Yugi asked.

"A darkness…she comes to claim the light which in all the worlds are unique…a brash youth unafraid of disturbing what has been so meticulously kept in balance for so long…a darkness…a deep, deep darkness…it will…it will…" Nero began to whisper in a tone very unnatural for the cherub.

"What is the brat saying?" Yami blinked over at the two, obviously surprised at the tone as well.

"I don't know what's wrong with-" Yugi began to say. He didn't manage to finish however, because suddenly an avalanche of rocks came rolling onto the path they were traveling.

"Shi-" Yami swore as he applied the brake.

Nizuki and Ryou behind him took another approach, trying too hard to overcorrect and skidding off the path and into the trees for their trouble.

Super-powered or not Yami had to obey the rules of physics just like everyone else and as the jeep slammed into rocks, he was slammed into the steering wheel, his head bouncing off the windshield with disturbing fluidity.

Yugi and Nero were not so lucky. The jeep had spun slightly before crashing into the rocks, whip-lashing the unbuckled pair to violently that they actually fell out of the car onto the ground.

Yugi managed to flip over in the last second to cushion Nero's fall. His back made an unhappy thud against the pavement and all air left Yugi's body.

Nero was similarly squished and so was in no position to defend himself when a lioness came trolling up to them and snagged the boy's shirt-collars in its mouth and dragged them away.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

With Jedi like reflexes Nizuki managed to evade most of the trees but it was because clear to her that she was going to have to slam into one of them just to stop. Not wanting to put her protectorate in danger because of her own inability to see the set up of some dark creature –she was convinced this was a demon attack now, albeit a rather unusual and lame one- Nizuki splashed some of her sunlight bottle contents over Ryou and whispered a quick spell to transport the boy over the gates.

Ryou jolted in protest before disappearing, giving Nizuki enough of a distraction that she finally hit one of those trees.

The jeep, of course, smashed quiet spectacularly but Nizuki just went intangible and avoided pain altogether.

She glimmered herself over five feet away and flopped on her butt to take a little breather. She HATED demon attacks with all her heart because demon magic had a terrible trace of shadows that either left her enraged or exhausted.

And right now it was the latter.

The strawberry blonde angel watched her vehicle burn for a few minutes then stumbled ungracefully to her feet and trudged back up the hill to the path.

She didn't reach her destination in time to stop the lioness but she did help Yami out by healing up his head, neck, and leg injuries.

The ex-pharaoh grumbled in agitation at the strange magic and a sharp smack of energy floated off him and gave Nizuki a stern shove.

"Ouch! Why you!" Nizuki growled. It was only then she noticed that her magic was reacting oddly with a shadowy haze already lingering over the teen's injuries. "Ohh…silver clouds! I forgot that you and Bakura have your own type of protective magic."

Again that hate of shadows sparkled over Nizuki and the angel quickly stepped away from the boy. She had wanted to wake the boy up but seeing as how that was not an option…

"Okay, darkness. Whatever you are, I hope you're ready for a nice butt-whoop," Nizuki growled, rolling up her shirt sleeves. She set her eyes on the skid-marks on the path and marched towards battle.

CHAPTER END!


	13. An Intro To Bad Demon Dealings

Masaka: I'm not dead, but this story is certainly getting to that point!

Yami Masaka: I-

Masaka: SHH!! My Muse has been sparking up ideas again but if I don't just jump into it and write she'll leave again

Yami Masaka: Well then. . .chapter start!

Yugi and Nero were unceremoniously dropped before a very large tree within the wolf habitat.

"Ouch! That hurt you know!" Yugi scowled. Nero whined over his mud-stained clothes.

The cheetah that had carried them only snorted at the two and tromped off into the bush.

"There are some days when I wonder if my life could get any stranger. . .and then it does," Yugi sighed. He hopped to his feet and stretched.

"I have a bad feeling things are going to get darker then lighter Yugi-sama," Nero said hopping to his own feet.

"Yah, I noticed. You were acted really odd earlier, what were you going on about how something was going to hurt Ryou and me," Yugi blinked in remembrance.

"I think Yugi-sama, I was sensing a demon," Nero frowned in grave worry.

"A-a demon? . . .WHAT THE HECK!! WHY WOULD THEY WANT ME, OR US, OR WHATEVER?" Yugi gulped.

"They may be looking for several reasons Yugi-sama. They may want me…or they may want you, I wasn't sure," Nero squirmed uncomfortably.

"Huh? Why would they want you?" Yugi asked.

"I was falling Yugi-sama. I am an angel. . .and I was falling," Nero squirmed more wildly. "If Yugi-sama hadn't caught me, I would've fallen all the way to the bad place."

"No way! I mean. . .no way could a cute little cherub like you become…you know all red and pointy," Yugi gapped.

"Other angels have done so, it isn't impossible," Nero frowned.

"Ya but you! That makes no sense!" Yugi gasped.

"Well it was only a guess, Yugi-sama. The other persons they could be after are Yugi and Ryou," Nero continued to shift around. His good wing was flapping wildly.

"WHY US!!"

"Demons are attracted to souls of light. You and Ryou are the bestest examples of light souls that have been born this century," Nero continued. "Though. . .why they attack now instead of before you were with your yamis is confusing to Nero."

"Yah, you'd think they would've tried to attack us when we were alone and helpless," Yugi pondered. "Does Nizuki suspect any of this?"

"Nizuki-nee is a stronger angel then Nero is. If she hasn't figured it out, then something is really wrong," Nero shivered.

Yugi frowned and pulled Nero into a hug. "You're really freaked out about this."

"Nero cannot protect Yugi-sama against big bad guys! I wouldn't know what to do, and I don't want to have to see Yugi-sama and friend dragged off to the bad place," Nero whimpered.

"Well don't worry Nero! You won't have to worry about anything like that! Yami and Nizuki are strong enough to take care of any big bad guys that come our way," Yugi said firmly.

'Oh course, I'm not sure the puzzle can do anything to demons, but hey what Nero doesn't know doesn't worry him,' Yugi's mind added.

Yugi looked up to where the cheetah was prowling around them. Now that it had delivered them to this spot it didn't seem very interested in doing anything particularly life-threatening to them.

"So why do you think the cheetah dragged us here?" Yugi asked curiously.

"Because I told it to," a voice whispered from the trees.

Nero and Yugi both gave a startled cry and dove out away from the tree's shadow.

"Wh-whose there?" Yugi demanded, positioning himself in front of Nero.

From inside the thick dark branches of the large tree, (A/N: Think the giant tree from the lion king…only not African) that stood in the middle of the habitat, shone two emerald eyes. The creepy thing was (besides the fact that the eyes were glowing in the dark) the pupils of those eyes were a burning red.

"DEMON!" Nero wailed glomping onto Yugi.

"Oh always such a _dramática pequeña cosa _(1) aren't you," the voice hissed. It was too echoing for Yugi to identify clearly but the hikari guessed it was a female voice.

And obviously foreign if the Spanglish talking meant anything.

"How do you know about Nero?" Yugi asked much more confidently then he felt inside.

"I was watching him fall, waiting for the right moment to snatch him," the voice hissed.

Nero whimpered and squeezed Yugi's waist. Yugi soothingly patted Nero's hands.

"Well I stopped his falling so you can't have him!" Yugi snapped. Inside his head a little mental voice –probably his ill-used survival instincts- was screaming at him to shut up and not argue with a being of fire and absolute evil.

"No, I can't have him. . .but YOU on the other-hand are a most tempting prize!" The voice hissed. The voice's emerald eyes flashed even brighter and the branches of the tree shot out like arms to snatch Yugi right up off the ground.

"WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Yugi yelled as he was unkindly hauled up off his feet into the air.

"YUGI-SAMA!" Nero yelled. The little angel took a stronger stance and drew out his one good wing. He closed his eyes and started to sing something but a branch whacked him to the side before he could finish.

"Ah-ah-ah, little angel. Don't you read the rules? An angel and a demon shall not use their magics at the same time," the voice cackled.

"Y-Yu-Yugi. . .sama," Nero groaned holding his stomach painfully.

"Now my little Yugi I think it's time you hand over your soul to me," The hidden demon crooned.

"How about an I.O.U!" Another voice called.

Yugi whipped his head around to see Nizuki flying into the fray with what looked like a miniature sun in her hands.

The 'tree' shrieked in fear as Nizuki swooped in and threw the mini-sun into its branches. Yugi was dumped unceremoniously to the ground.

"Ahhhhh! That's not fair! That's not fair at all! You aren't supposed to use your magic like that! It's against the rules it's-" the demon began to whine.

"Oh get a freakin' clue lady. I am allowed to use my magic against you if you are threatening my protectorate or one of my watched(2)! AND DAMN IT WHO IN HIS NAME DO YOU THINK YOU ARE JUST ATTACKING OUT OF THE BLUE, EH? THAT'S AGAINST EVERY SINGLE RULE IN THE BOOK! YUGI HAS TO OFFER YOU HIS SOUL, YOU SUCCUBUS; YOU CAN'T JUST RIP IT OUT OF HIM!!" Nizuki screamed, obviously very agitated at this breech in protocol.

"B-but I. . .I-" the voice whimpered some more.

"Now you are going to leave this zoo and leave my protectorate and my watched(2) alone!" Nizuki commanded regally.

"Tsk. . .fine," the voice hissed in annoyance. Immediately the eyes vanished and the tree returned to normal.

Nizuki let out a heavy sigh and walked over to Yugi. The boy's face was half-buried in the dirt, a centipede crawling through his hair.

"Are you alright, little light?" Nizuki asked grabbing Yugi's elbow and pulling the boy to his feet.

Yugi didn't answer right away, he was too busy spitting out dirt and what looked like stray bits of bark.

"I-I'm. . .fine," Yugi panted after a moment. He looked around the pen. "Where's Nero? Is he okay?"

"YUGI-SAMA!" Nero cried tackling Yugi back into the dirt.

"Hmm, he looks fine to me," Nizuki blinked.

"YugiIwassoscaredforyouI'msorryIcouldn'thelpyoubutItriedandthenthatmeandemonsmackedNerowasabranchandithurtanditknockedtheairoutofmylungsbutitdidn'thurttoobadandI'msososososososoorry!" Nero said in one long space-less sentence that took out every breath the angel had making it so he was huffing and puffing as bad as Yugi was after he said it all.

"It's okay Nero, I'm okay," Yugi said carefully embracing Nero, trying to keep the little angel's weight off the bruises he was trying to ignore.

"I so sorry!!!!" Nero cried like a heartbroken little child.

Yugi felt his heart strings twinge and he squeezed Nero all that much tighter.

"Oh Nero! I told you, it's fine! Don't cry silly!" Yugi laughed caringly. Nero sniffled and nuzzled his head closer into Yugi's chest.

Nizuki watched the two of them fondly then turned to look up at the sidewalk. Ryou had finally made it to the enclosure along with what's-his-face.

"Are you two alright up there?" Nizuki called.

"F-fine!" Ryou blushed. He wasn't going to begin to explain what had happened while he was running after the motorcycle driving angel.

Needless to say it had involved an ill-place rock and some alligator first-aide.

For a guy stuck in a foam animal suit Darrin (A/N: Zubarro's first name, be aware I will be using it much more) was dangerously charming.

"Is everyone alright down there?" Zubarro asked curiously.

"Yes, we're fine, a little bruised but hey at least we're not dog food right?" Nizuki cheered.

"That's always a plus," Zubarro laughed in agreement. The brunette then scanned the area and looked back at the blonde angel. "Wasn't there one other guy with you?"

This caused everyone to pause in shock. Where was Yami?!

On the other side of the zoo

Yami was feeling rather peeved. And not just a little embarrassed.

He had felled Ancient Gods of Darkness and yet one little mishap with some animals and he could even put up a fight?

If Yugi was hurt when the ex-pharaoh found him Yami was going to feel royally pissed.

(A/N: **Yami Masaka**: HEY! Yami can cuss! Why can't it? **Masaka**: Because I say so now SHUSH!)

Yami had just stumbled through some ambient shrubbery when he heard voices.

"_Ooooh! It's not fair! It's sooo not fair! Stupid Rule Book! I thought I was doing really well too!"_

"_I'm sorry mistress. I didn't know about your rules."_

"_Well duh of course YOU didn't know, you stupid _chica(3)_! . . .But you did give helpful info so I guess I won't punish you for this."_

"_Thank you mistress. . .Oh. . .mistress. . .w-what about the uh. . .t-the um. . .the potion?"_

"_Do you really think you are THAT deserving? Humph. I should cut you off for a month for your impertinence!"_

"_Oh! No please mistress! You can't do that! I would just die! Please you can't-"_

"_Blah, blah, blah,"_ there was a very drama queen sigh, "_I suppose I'll have my _caliente chico-juguete(4)_ fix you up a little something. But the NEXT time I call in your services and I fail to get a soul you WILL be paying for it!"_

"_Yes mistress."_

Yami's brow creased in concern. What in the world was going on? Taking souls? Wasn't that Dartz's shtick?

Yami pushed through the remaining brush and stepped out into a clearing to see. . .Tea?

"Tea…-koi? What in the world are you doing here?" Yami asked.

"Yami-koi! Oh, I was so worried about you! The whole Zoo Fiasco was on the news and I figured you and Yugi …Oh Yami, I was sooooo scared!" Tea sobbed throwing her arms around the Egyptian boy and burying her face in his shirt.

"I'm sorry we scared you, Tea," Yami smiled regretfully. "But how did you know we'd be here?"

"W-well I know Yugi comes here a lot," Tea sniffled pitifully. "He always did. Back before we met you I knew I would always find Yugi here, by the carousel."

That hit Yami in an unprotected place. TEA had know about Yugi's trips to the zoo? And HE hadn't? Yami was supposed to know Yugi better than anyone and yet he hadn't the slightest idea where Yugi went to feel happy.

"Oh," Yami said blankly.

"Besides wherever there are unexplained explosions, there is bound to be my Yami-love," Tea giggled playfully.

Yami pouted and pushed Tea back a step so he could cross his arms over his chest.

"I'm so glad you can identify me by the path of destruction I leave behind."

"Oh don't be that way Ya-"

"YAMI!!" voices yelled from behind the two.

Yami and Tea turned around to see the group (plus Zubarro, who was carrying Yugi on his back) staring at them with a wide range of emotions on their faces.

Yugi looked relieved to see Yami in one piece but slightly upset that Yami wasn't alone.

Nero was oblivious to any problems Tea's presence was causing and was smiling like he hadn't a care in the world.

Nizuki looked coldly livid, sort of like a certain billionaire CEO right before said blue-eyes revealed a plan to crush Yami into microscopic bits.

Ryou looked worried about his angel and relieved that Yami was okay in a much less obvious way than Yugi.

Zubarro just looked a little exasperated that yet another person had run into the CLOSED zoo.

"Who's this?" Zubarro asked, shrugging Yugi up higher onto his shoulders, making Yugi bounce like a kid in a jumping-castle.

"THAT is Yami's girlfriend. . .who is TWO HOURS EARLY!!" Nizuki snapped viciously.

Zubarro looked at Ryou in confusion.

"Tea and Nizuki had a bet. Tea lost and as penalty she wasn't supposed to see Yami until I think eight tonight…But this was an emergency so I guess she forgot," Ryou explained with a shrug.

Zubarro didn't fully understand but bless his little heart he just nodded and kept a neutral yet politely interested look on his face.

"My koibito was in trouble! I had to come!" Tea pouted.

"From what I gather your koi is ALWAYS in trouble. You shouldn't have come. What if one of the lions had come after you, huh? Then we would've had to worry about yet another potential victim!" Nizuki snapped. Even in a fit of anger she was still angelic enough to be worried about the idiot brunette.

(A/N: **Yami Masaka**: Why are you being so nice to Tea? **Masaka:** Because it goes in with my plot. Besides angels are the expressions of heavenly grace! Nizuki is supposed to be a forgiving person. Nizuki just has a tough love thing going on. Now shut up and wait till the author notes really start!)

"O-Oh. . .yah I never really thought about that. I mean we just. . .that is Yami and all our friends. .. well we always go into any situation together," Tea blushed.

"I'm glad to know I mean so much to you," Yami chuckled. Involuntarily his arm draped itself over Tea's shoulders. Yami looked at the appendage in surprise and made to take his arm back but Tea snuggled into his shoulder so Yami just let his arm stay put.

Nero looked at the snuggly couple then looked up at Yugi in worry. That fake porcelain smile Nero hated was on Yugi's lips.

"HEY!" Nero yelled out, intent on distracting his master from the display. "I'M HUNGRY!!"

This proclamation took everyone by surprise because for a few seconds everyone just stared at the littlest angel in shock.

"Hmm now that you mention it I'm a little peckish myself," Ryou said timidly.

"We HAVE been running around a lot," Nizuki noted, folding her arms casually behind her head.

"Well I think my sucky boss Dorgain can dish out a few bucks for a meal," Zubarro said with a devil-may-care grin. "He'll want you all to sign legal waivers saying you won't sue Su's zoo anyway so why not make him pay for that?"

"That sounds an awful lot like blackmail," Yugi said, leaning forward so his face was upside down right in front of Zubarro's.

"I wouldn't call it blackmail per say; it's more like . . .compensation. I mean you and Yami DID try to do the heroic thing and save that kid even though it wasn't your job," Zubarro said bumping his nose playfully against Yugi's.

The tri-colored-haired teen squeaked in embarrassment at the contact and moved out of Zubarro's face. Yami growled threateningly. Nizuki and Nero giggled. Ryou blushed, trying to tell himself he didn't just imagine being in Yugi's place and sweeping Zubarro up into a kiss.

Tea remained surprisingly silent.

"Well then! Off we go to the main office!" Nizuki cheered.

Four Hours later after a hecka lot of paper work and a equally large amount of paper-cuts

Yugi's bruises were starting to feel very tender when everyone sat down a local dinner for a well-earned lunch.

Much to Yami's sudden disgust (5) Zubarro had also decided to join them. And much to everyone's horror Dorgain had fired the brunette boy as soon as he had stepped into the building.

According to Dorgain, for an employee to run in after zoo-patrons like he had was completely against the regulations. Zubarro should have stayed on the emergency telephone until help arrived.

Nizuki was saved the trouble of having to punch the red-head buffoon out by Jou and the rest of the other workers. They had turned Dorgain purple in a way that an angel could never justify. Needless to say Nizuki had been thrilled at the sight.

"Oh well," Darrin had shrugged, "it's not like working at that zoo was my dream-job or anything. And I DO get a free lunch."

To Ryou's teenage delight/horror, Darrin was a real gorgeous creature underneath all that foam. No, not just hot, MECHA HOT, SUPA HOT! SUPA MECHA AWESOMELY HOT! (6)

The teen (he told them all that he was nineteen but since that was still in the numerical teens he didn't mind being called one) was very muscular with biceps that any movie-star would kill for and narrow hips that made his shoulders look that much wider.

Darrin also had very good fashion sense for such a young guy because instead of the general t-shirt and jeans ensemble most young men tended to wear, Darrin had come out of the employee's locker room (after it had been checked out by the proper authorities to make sure it was animal-free) in a yummy robin's egg blue button-down shirt, black denim pants and matching black Doc Martins.

Ryou had mentally pinched Nizuki to stop the angel from giving a teasing wolf-whistle.

"That was probably the freakiest thing to EVER happen at that zoo. And believe me; we've had some loonies …like this whacko who said that our tiger looked like his beloved late wife and tried to climb into the enclosure," Darrin said, leaning heavily back in the padding booth seats, his arms spread over the top, behind Ryou on his left and Tea on his right.

Everything about Darrin just screamed MAN! He had a very masculine scent, a very masculine way of sitting, a masculine way of talking and apparently a masculine way of sprawling out over a diner bench.

"Oh I'm sure they are investigating the matter as we speak. They'll probably tell us what happened tomorrow on the news," Nizuki said as she combed her fingers through Nero's hair. She had a very knowing look in her eyes that the hikaris didn't like.

(What did you do?) Ryou asked suspiciously.

((Me? I did nothing. Nero was the one who erased everyone's memory and sublimated a new memory; after all he needs the practice and he is pretty good at small tricks like that. . .Though technically he was supposed erase Darrin's memory as well but I guess it's all good.))

(NO WAY!) Ryou gasped.

"Something wrong Ryou?" Yugi asked.

"A-ask Nero," Ryou chocked.

Yugi looked curiously at Nero, who was sitting quite contentedly in his hard won spot beside Yugi.

Nero told Yugi almost verbatim what Nizuki had told Ryou in a whisper, for the sake of starring eyes.

"Oh!" Yugi gapped. He forgot that Nero was a magic-using angel. He was used to little cuddly Nero. But obviously Nero had to have SOME powers.

"What?" Yami snapped, annoyed that he was out of the loop.

"I-It's nothing," Yugi shrugged, making sure to not look at Yami directly. He knew the pharaoh would be able to tell if he was lying if the spirit saw his eyes.

"Aaaanway," Zubarro interrupted after an awkward moment of silence. "How are you doing Yugi? I noticed you were kind of shielding your ribs earlier. You get a scrap or two during all that mess?"

Yugi chocked on a sip of his water. He hadn't thought anyone had noticed that! Darn it!

"Are you okay Yugi?" Nero and Yami asked at the same time. Yami growled at Nero right after.

"O-oh s-sure!" Yugi blushed grinning sheepishly at both his loved ones.

"Are you sure? You could have gotten really hurt when we jumped off that roof, or when the car crashed or-" Yami began to rattle off.

"Yugi didn't get hurt looking after Nero, did he? Oh I hope not! Please say it wasn't Nero's fault!" Nero whimpered.

"I-It's fine really, just a few bruis-YAMI!" Yugi screeched.

Yami obviously wasn't listening because he had grabbed Yugi's sweatshirt and the shirt underneath and had pulled them right up so the ex-pharaoh could examine Yugi's chest for himself.

"Hmm, there ARE bruises here!" Yami snorted.

"YAMI!!" Yugi continued to screech in horror. He didn't want everyone to see his stupid bruises, and more especially he didn't want them to see his girly under developed chest.

"Wow those bruises DO look painful. They're all green and yellow," Tea winched sympathetically.

(A/N: Yami Masaka: SYMPATHY!! TEA DOESN'T HAVE -gets whacked unconscious by Masaka's frying pan)

"It's better than the ones on his back," Nizuki said, her fingers cold on Yugi's back as she held up his shirt from the behind. "These ones here are black and purple. These are probably deep muscular bruises."

"Ooookay, Yugi is getting tired of being the strip-show lunch entertainment. Can you all please let go of my shirt," Yugi said, his face burning bright red.

Everyone else blushed and grinned in apology. Yami took special care to make sure all Yugi's skin was covered up and then hid his face in his menu.

"Eh-hmm, maybe it would've been better if I hadn't mentioned anything," Darrin said embarrassedly.

"Probably," Yugi said giving the boy a faint glare. It wasn't really Zubarro that he was mad at but he had to glare at someone. Glaring at himself for being such a shrimp would've been too hard.

"Nero knows something that will get rid of most of the bruises by day after tomorrow," Nero smiled warmly.

/Song therapy?/ Yugi asked mentally.

:/Yep! I can sing ouchies better no problem/:

/And you say you're bad at magic/

:/Nero IS bad at magic! Otherwise Nero would have been able to save Yugi from the evil tree!/: Nero pouted.

/Don't be so hard on yourself. I never once thought that you did anything wrong. Everything was just happening so fast/: Yugi said soothingly.

"Thanks Nero. I know I can trust you to help me," Yugi said aloud, once again for the sake of the other people present.

Yami's fist clenched the menu that much harder. Tea must have noticed because she leaned up against her steaming koi and girlishly began to flirt while making suggestions on what they should order.

"By the way; I never did thank you for letting me borrow your motorcycle in there. I would've had to walk a heck of a long way to the lion enclosure if it hadn't been for that beauty. Harley Davidson?"

"Ugh! You heathen! Oh course not! A Harley would be much too bulky for me to use on a daily basis, it's a Kawasaki…though it's becoming more and more a Frankenstein because of all the parts I've had to salvage off other bikes and the parts I've had to make myself," Darrin shrugged.

"You MAKE motorcycle parts?" Ryou gapped.

"Eh well, no. I have a friend who owns a garage though so. . .you know," Darrin shrugged.

Lunch continued on from there pretty normally. Everyone talked about polite strictly NON-MAGICAL things (Darrin seemed pretty open-minded but caution was a Yugi-tachi virtue) and ate from the surprisingly tasty menu.

After over indulging on the way to tasty to be moral pies, the group paid their tab (with Su's credit card, of course) and headed out onto the street.

"Well, I should probably head home. I have lots of things to do and I have to start looking for another job," Darrin sighed, holding his arms behind his head.

"O-Oh well um. . .t-thanks for e-everything . . .t-then," Ryou bowed nervously.

Darrin flashed the hikari one absolutely stunning grin and winked teasingly. "Oh it was my pleasure, snowy. Hopefully we'll see each other around town some time."

"Hopefully not," Yami muttered under his breath. Yugi and Tea both elbowed him.

"Ryou and I should be heading home as well," Nizuki sighed. She then looked over at Yugi with a very serious face. "Yugi, you and Nero are going to come with me and Ryou to the museum when it opens tomorrow, okay?"

"W-what. . .why?" Yugi asked nervously. He liked the joking, teasing, over the top Nizuki a lot more. That Nizuki didn't bring bad news about demons and boyfriends that you'll never win over in a million years.

"We have. . .things to discuss. . .important things," Nizuki said in a very solemn voice.

"Oh! O-of course, w-we'll show up," Yugi nodded avidly.

"You'll be late to school," Yami frowned.

"I'll just miss history. It's not like that's something I need to study. We're studying Ancient Egypt right now and we already know more then the teacher does," Yugi shrugged.

"But-" Yami began to scold.

"Yami-koi, you are hardly one to talk about missing classes," Tea giggled, gripping her lover's arm tight, like it was a leash. "We skip the first class pretty much everyday!"

"Yes but. . .that's. . .it's different," Yami pouted. Tea just rolled her eyes.

"Well. . .good night," Darrin said before turning and walking down the street.

The others shared their farewells as well and Nero took in his last Yugi glomp for the day and headed off with Nizuki and Ryou.

Tea planted one final smooch on Yami and headed off as well.

Then it was just Yugi and Yami.

". . .You know, we never did get to see Kaiba's new exhibition," Yugi said thoughtfully.

"Leave for another day, Yugi. Right now I want to get home and sleep for a month," Yami sighed.

"It's still early!" Yugi wailed.

Yami just continued to walk towards the game shop. Yugi sighed heavily and hung his head.

His first step towards a relationship Yami had been a complete and utter flop.

_dramática pequeña cosa -_dramatic little thing, written in that order for Spanglish purposes

watched- an angelic term. It means Nizuki is looking after Yugi's best interests as well as looking after her own protectorate. The details of what such an agreement means will probably be addressed later on in the story.

chica- means girl. It is basically a casual way for the succubus to address the person she was talking to. Kind of like a nickname only less intimate. This succubus addresses pretty much every girl as chica.

caliente chico-juguete- hot boy-toy, written in that order for Spanglish purposes

Yami is suddenly disgusted, because until that little face-to-face thing, Yami didn't have any bad feelings towards Zubarro.

Ryou's dissertation of how HOT Darrin is uses slang that is most notoriously used by _Kogals _and/or Gwen Stefani. I am not misspelling super, and mecha is really a descriptor in Japanese

Yami Masaka: WOW! You did it hikari! You broke out of your writer's block, AND you were able to write this chapter in a way that only introduced problems not destroyed the surpises!

Masaka: I know pretty awesome, right? I was just sitting in the computer commons and then WHAM the story started to come to me! It's not exactly how I thought it would turn out and I think I may have junked up a few little things but I think it's a DARN good chapter considering I had no idea how to write it before!

Yami Masaka: But, hikari, I have to ask… ARE YOU BECOMING A TEA FAN OR SOMETHING??

Masaka: sigh I knew that question was coming. No, I am not a Tea fan. I am just not a big Tea-hater. I mean, yes she's annoying and stupid and sometimes even a little conniving but she's not HORRID or anything. Besides if I use her in a different way I can make the story sequel a little bit longer and more involved.

Yami Masaka: Fine. . .I guess. But you better not be trying to hook Nero up with Yugi and have Yami and Tea as a permanent couple

Masaka: EEEW! NO! BLECK!! It's shonen-ai forever baby!

Yami Masaka: THAT'S MY GIRL!!!

Nero: I liked the Spanglish accent the bestest. That was fun!

Masaka: Oh yes! I have something to say about that. Eh-hem, all translation for this fanfiction were made possible by http://ets. If you are a Spanish speaker and find something wrong with these phrases then please just understand that I have taken two-years of Latin, but so far no other language.

Yami Masaka: And we're taking more Latin at the U of A, so don't count on the hope that we'll get it right sometime in the future. It's better to just send reviews with corrections.

Masaka: YAMI!!

Yami Masaka: What? It's true!

Nero and Yugi: Many more thrills and spills and exciting new twists are yet to come. Please keep ready Masaka1's Yu-Gi-Oh fanfiction, 'Heavenly Interventions'! Also please review, because we are nothing with out our supporters! bow politely


	14. What are we gonna do now?

Masaka: My Microsoft Word is going crazy on me. The boarders keep changing and it is about to drive me off the deep-end.

Yami Masaka: Really? I don't mind it so much.

Masaka: Well I do mind it!! WAAAH MY COMPUTER IS STARTING TO GO CRAAAZY!!

Yami Masaka: YAAAAAWN!! Whatever

Masaka: groans You are so very unhelpful

Yami Masaka: Just get writing! You said you wanted to finish a story for once in your life so hop to it

Masaka: All right!! Sheeesh!

Yugi had thought he was done with magic and inhuman forces.

He'd spent the greater part of two-years trying to stop the annihilation of mankind! He'd had his soul sucked out for his cause too! Didn't that count for anything anymore?

But apparently Yugi had been hoping for naught. It seemed that even if Yugi didn't want to get involved with otherworldly powers, those same powers wanted to get involved with him.

Damn it! At least when it had been duel-monsters Yugi had gotten the cool opportunity to meet with his favorite magician!

Fate was a tyrannical cruel witch!

Despite Yami's adamant protests the next morning (the ex-pharaoh had even gone so far as to try and haul Yugi off to school with the card Chain-Energy) Yugi headed off to the Domino Museum of History, which according to Nizuki was neutral ground for all magic forces.

The moment Yugi got to the top of the steps that led to the museum door Nizuki grabbed his arm and hauled the little hikari deep into the museum to the empty Roman Empire exhibit where Ryou was already waiting.

Nero hadn't come along since Nizuki had instructed him to keep Yami occupied.

It was incredible that Nero could be trusted to make-up a plausible excuse as to why a notoriously clam zoo had suddenly turned into a real-life reenactment of Jurassic Park and could be trusted to keep a unnatural powered former pharaoh away from a secret hikari meeting but Nero wasn't allowed to be a guardian angel.

Heaven obviously set the bar reaaaaally high.

…Then again if an angel's common spell could blow up a steel-grate reinforced three-foot thick concrete containment wall maybe being critical wasn't such a bad thing.

Either way Nizuki hadn't wasted any time worrying if Nero could handle the fiasco that was a nosy Yami and, with all the patience and understanding of an elementary school-teacher, had begun her seminar.

"Okay, just so you aren't jumping at shadows anymore, I have to tell you that demons do NOT normally set up dopey scenarios like that," Nizuki said in a very straight forward, yet sympathizing, tone. "There are numberless guidelines that were negotiated to stop these kinds of things from happening. My only guess as to why this demon can and is acting this way is because it's taking advantage of the Seer Clause."

Ryou and Yugi shared a mutually bewildered look then looked at Nizuki.

"Um…tenshi-chan…what is the Seer Clause?" Ryou asked.

"Huh? It's…oh yah; you wouldn't know it would you? Silver Clouds across the moon! We passed down all the information but noooo that would've been too easy! Stupid Constantine!"

"Who?" the two boys blinked curiously.

"Emperor Constantine….he commissioned the creation of a collective tome of all gospels and decided what got into the first edition of the bible ….He was an Ancient Roman guy…He was a cornerstone of the history of the Catholic Church?" Nizuki said.

Both lights just shook there heads.

"…Silver Clouds, I hate it when no one knows what I'm talking about but me," the strawberry-blonde angel sighed, massaging her temples to more physically express her frustration than to actually manage any kind of pain. "Eh, never mind. Just …just watch the History Channel once in a while okay guys? Sheesh!"

"Nizuki, we life in Japan; Christian history isn't really a big thing around here," Yugi couldn't help but point out. When Nizuki cast him a withering look he just smiled sheepishly.

"Okay, forgetting the whole historical deprivation thing and getting back to the Heavenly Law Books. Basically in the Book Of Compromises there is a clause that says pretty much verbatim, 'any of those who are not blind to the Great Powers may be approached by those of the lower-order in a manner not liken to any blinded mortal.'"

"…Which means?" Yugi and Ryou asked in unison.

"Which means a demon could crawl out of the sewers in full cloven-hoof, scaly tail, horned brow regalia and no one could scold him for it," Nizuki explained.

"WHAT!!" Yugi yelped.

"Awwwh! I didn't ever want any creepy Sight; I was suckered into it by the Ring!" Ryou whined.

"I know, I know, it's not fair but some souls…they just see things," Nizuki shrugged. "It would bee far crueler, I think, for Heaven to blind those who from their very core want to see."

"So we're going to get approached by demons all the time now?" Yugi grimaced.

"I should say not," Nizuki said, her lips pouted into an expression most models had to practice for years to perfect. "As long as you're smart about it, no demon can touch you."

"What do we do then?" Ryou asked avidly.

"Don't make vague or open-ending promises like 'I'll give you anything for your help.'"

There was a long pause.

"That's it?" Ryou and Yugi asked.

"Yep; a demon would have to get you to promise him that you'll surrender your soul. Verbal agreements and gambles are the tricks of the demon trade," Nizuki explained.

"But there has to be something else! I mean aren't there preventative measures we can take like wearing crosses or bathing in holy water or something?" Ryou wailed.

"What in the …Holy water and crosses? Oh I guess that stuff would give an underling hives or a nasty rash or something but honesty it just comes down to choice," Nizuki snorted.

"That's it? Choice?" Yugi repeated.

"That's what free-will is for, baby," Nizuki winked.

The angel then smiled thoughtfully and said, "But it wouldn't hurt you to build up a defense to temptation."

"How would we do that?" Ryou asked.

"Well, my little powdered-doughnut, for you it involves some simple life-style changes that I was going to suggest to you anyway," Nizuki said ruffling her protectorate's hair fondly.

"Well then Ryou is covered, but what about me?" Yugi asked his voice high-pitched with panic.

"You…will need to calm down," Nizuki frowned seriously.

"It's just that I-" Yugi whimpered.

"I know you are panicked but I can't help you if you're hysterical," Nizuki soothed. She gently rubbed Yugi's back.

Yugi closed his eyes and took several deep and calming breaths. He could actually feel his heart-beak slowing down.

"Better?" Nizuki asked.

"Better," Yugi agreed.

"Right then, now listen intently. Yugi, you already have a good quantity of fighting spirit within you, more than enough to keep you fighting when the chips are down," Nizuki said with a genuine smile.

Yugi blushed and clasped a nervous hand around his left-wrist.

"Ryou here isn't much of a fighter at all though," Nizuki continued undaunted.

"Hey! I-" Ryou began to protest.

"Did I finish yet? No, I didn't, you just had to get moody and interrupt, bad kitty," Nizuki scolded, flicking Ryou's nose with her forefinger.

"Ouch!" Ryou whined. Yugi laughed at the almost sibling-like quarreling.

"Now as I was saying," Nizuki said putting the mantle of Heavenly Being back on, "Ryou is naturally passive, usually letting other's will-power overtake his own. It's actually a common phenomenon; it's being a people-pleaser. So to help Ryou, I need to develop a stronger sense of self-right in him. I need to work on his belief in his own power and everything else he needs will fall into place."

"I'm not like that," Yugi mentioned.

"No, you're not. You're caught somewhere between confidence and meekness. It's actually endearing in a way, but dangerous in these new circumstances. Yugi, you will need to find your self-worth and validation in something else. This will be more important to you than anything else and will perhaps even help you garner Yami's attention," Nizuki agreed.

"But you can't tell me what this thing is," Yugi pouted.

Nizuki tilted back her head and let loose a laugh that sounded like something from childhood. It made Yugi feel calm about everything and judging by the smile on Ryou's face it did the same for him as well.

"You are so impatient little Yugi. Things will reveal themselves all in due course. **His **workings lead all people to their joy, if they know to keep an eye out for signs, and you do know. Just keep doing as you've been doing. You aren't alone in this, Nero and I will help you find your guiding star as well," Nizuki said soft as a mother's embrace after her laughter died down a little.

"…I still think it's dumb that you can't just tell me what it is I should do right now," Yugi pouted, kicking a crag in the floor mosaic.

Nizuki laughed warmly again and was about to say something when a sharp 'POP' snapped in the air and Nero appeared out of nowhere, hovering two or three feet above Nizuki's head.

"Nizukiiiiii!" Nero started to cheerfully greet, before the spell holding him aloft broke and dumped the poor cherub right into an enormous bronze vase on display.

"NERO!" Yugi yelped, jumping to attention immediately and hauling the young angel out of the vase and setting him back on his feet.

"Waaaaaaaaah," Nero whined, his eyes slightly unfocused.

"He always _was _bad at instant materializations," Nizuki sighed matter-of-factly while Ryou canned the immediate area anxiously, hoping no one saw that.

"Brrrrr!" Nero shuddered, shaking his head to clear away the listlessness his fall had caused him.

Nero then turned to Nizuki with a giant smile on his lips.

"Yami is all taken care of Nizuki-onee!" Nero chirped. "I was watching him just like you told me to when that Councilor Harrison man caught him trying to sneak off campus. Then Councilor man dragged Yami off into his office and everything went reeeeeally quiet."

Yugi and Ryou flinched in sympathy.

"Very good Nero," Nizuki smiled, patting Nero on the head. She then turned back to the lights. "Now as I was saying-"

"Uuuuum…there's something else," Nero softly interrupted.

"Yes, what is it?" Nizuki asked.

"I tried to erase Darrin's memories of yesterday again, like Nizuki asked me…and umm…it didn't…I mean I…"

"Oh no, what did you do to him?" Nizuki groaned.

"It's not a 'do' problem…it's a…'didn't' problem," Nero muttered, poking his index fingers together timidly.

"YOU DIDN'T ERASE HIS MEMORY!!" Nizuki yelped.

"Nero tried!! Mister Alligator Man is resistant to my spells! I think he has a Gift," Nero whined.

"A Gift?" Ryou and Yugi repeated curiously. They had been doing that a lot this morning.

"Awwwwh Silver thunderclaps and silver clouds across the moon! Just what we need, an extra sensitive human in the middle of a soul battle," Nizuki wailed.

"Extra sensitive?...OH! You mean extra sensory perceptive? ESP! It really exists! Oh wow, wow, wow!!!" Ryou awed with stars in his eyes.

The white-haired hikari was always fascinated in the creepiest stuff like Ouija boards, haunted houses, vampires, werewolves, unsolved occult murders and ESP.

It made for quite an interesting time when you had Ryou and Joey both talking about things that go bump in the night.

Once when Ryou was caught up in discussing one of his favorite spooky stories he'd said something (Yugi didn't remember exactly what) that made Joey literally pass out from fear.

Yugi had had to let the blonde sleep over for a month just to get Joey to start sleeping regularly again.

"It's not ESP the way you're thinking Ry-chan," Nizuki began to explain. "We're not talking about telepathy or telekinesis here…not even clairvoyance. Extra sensitive humans are generally just people who are immune from spells and magic for one reason or another."

"So…does that mean Darrin is going to be a problem?" Yugi asked.

"No…I don't think so anyway. He'll just be someone to watch out for. In my experience Gifted humans generally just stumble through well-set Heavenly Plans and muck everything up," Nizuki muttered grumpily.

"O-oh, I don't think Zubarro-san will cause any trouble," Ryou blushed.

Nizuki smirked teasingly. "Oh no? Why do you think that? Could it because Ry-chan has a crush on Zubarro-san?"

"N-NO!!" Ryou yelped.

Nizuki cackled in her usual almost-evil manner while Yugi put an extreme amount of focus on studying the way his fingers looked knitted together.

Nero was once again the only one to show no signs of being affected by the topic of conversation.

"Um…um…Nizuki-onee…I-If Darrin is no trouble…then does that mean…I did something right for once?" Nero asked.

"What? Nero-baby, you did plenty right, not just looking after Yami. You did great yesterday too," Nizuki said turning her focus on the little angel. She smiled warmly and ruffled Nero's hair like she'd ruffled Ryou's earlier. "I think being down here in the trenches has really done wonders for your spell-casting ability."

"I still not good at important spells," Nero pouted in a way that really, really made Yugi want to glomp him.

"Oh don't worry about that, a lot of angels are bad at the important spells," Nizuki dismissed with a way of her hand.

Just then, before another word could be said, the museum doors opened up and a pair of teenagers came walking in.

Nizuki gave then a critical once over then snorted and herded the two boys and diminutive angel out of the door.

"Eek, some days I almost think there are more demons on Earth then there are in the entirety of Hell," the angelic being muttered mostly to herself.

After the abrupt interruption to the 'Meeting of the Angels and the Lights', as Yugi had privately dubbed it, Nizuki decided that there had been enough serious talk and dragged the two lights to a nearby diner.

It was only when Yugi spied the clock inside that he realized just how much time had passed.

"It's already one-thirty? There's pretty much no point in even going back to school today!" Yugi groaned.

"So don't, there are more important things than school," Nizuki said while scanning through the menu.

"Hey! How can you say that? That doesn't sound very-"

"-Angelic of me?" Nizuki finished for her protectorate. "Ooooh I'm soooo sorry! I'd just like to mention that school isn't the begin all and end all of the universe."

Yugi and Ryou shared a surprised look then looked back at Nizuki.

"You sound like you have something against schools," Ryou mentioned tentatively.

Nizuki looked up from the dessert selection. (A/N: This angel is starting to become a sugar-junkie! Sheesh I bet that really ticks some people off…her looking so pretty while eating nothing but sugars I mean)

"Do I sound that way? Sorry, I don't mean to. It's just that some people take school way to seriously. I mean, hurray for education and the death of deadly ignorance, but I just worry that sometimes people take the whole system too seriously. If a person gets too involved with their books they can start to loose sight of the more important things around them and…Well…"

"Nizuki nearly lost her last protectorate to darkness brought on by school anxiety," Nero explained.

Nizuki twitched in discomfort and flipped over to the lunch section in the menu.

(A/N: YAAAH! No dessert! Eat like a real person, Nizu-baby!)

"Nizuki has had other protectorates?" Yugi asked in surprise.

"Nizuki-onee is thousands of years old, Yugi-sama. It would be weirder if she'd never worked a case before Friend of Yugi-sama's Ryou-san," Nero pointed out.

"Yah, I guess you have a point there…Say, what were some of your other protectorates like?" Yugi asked conversationally.

Nizuki stared long and hard at Yugi, until the tri-colored haired teen was sure the angel wasn't even seeing him anymore.

"Hmmph…stupid baka," Nizuki grumbled suddenly, turning back to her menu. There was a growl to her voice and Yugi though he saw her wings pop out and flap several times in extreme agitation.

Nero snickered like he knew a great secret and looked at his own menu.

Ryou blinked in total shock at his angel while Yugi tried to decide if he was offended that Nizuki had said that or not.

"Nizuki-chan…" Ryou said in slight shock.

"What?" Nizuki asked.

"Surely you don't …I mean… It's just that…" Ryou began to try to explain.

"What? I was just thinking about this stupid idiot I looked after once. I love the guy like mad but if I ever see him again I'm really going to have to hurt him. He was so…so…" Nizuki shuddered and clenched her fists around the menu tightly. "There aren't even words to properly describe that man."

"What man? Who are you talking about?" Yugi asked.

"Private information," Nizuki snorted, snapping her menu once like a towel, to get it more or less back into its original shape.

"Oh pooh," Yugi pouted. "You're probably one of those people that won't spill secrets even when intoxicated!"

"Darn straight," Nizuki said, not looking up from her menu. "Okay NOW I know what I want."

Yugi shook his head and chuckled. For the rest of lunch, the littlest hikari just leaned back in his chair and enjoyed the sight of his angelic acquaintances and his fellow hikari laughed and relaxing.

Suddenly, despite all the new threats involved, Yugi was glad that these angels had come into his life.

Masaka: sigh Poor Yugi

Yami Masaka: Huh? What poor Yugi? What do you mean? Is something going to happen to him?

Masaka: A lot is going to happen to poor Yugi…and poor Ryou too. But I guess since it all comes out fine in the end…

Yami Masaka: whimper Now I'm worried.

Masaka: Don't worry, they'll be fine.

Yami Masaka: shivers again then rights herself Well whatever, I'm really proud of you hikari. You managed to get another chapter done, and it didn't take months this time!

Masaka: Yaaaah…but I'm not sure how great the story will be from here on out. I mean there are a lot of elements that play into this story and I don't want to add too much or too little to any one of them or else the final conflict will turn out less…well less dramatic then I want it to be

Yami Masaka: Yah I guess I understand that…but hikari…do you really think this story belongs in the humor and romance section? It's getting pretty serious

Masaka: That is true…I think this is more like Romance…um…drama? But there are SOME funny parts and well…all the other drama fanfics are just so very angst ridden that I don't want to change the genre of my story

Yami Masaka: True that, true that…Oh well, we can always change it some time in the future if we have to turns to the door and whistles sharply Hey boys!! You're on!!

Nero comes bouncing happily into the room along with Yugi, Ryou and Yami. All of the boys are dressed in different colored tuxedos. Ryou's is white with a pale blue cummerbund and bowtie,

Nero's tux is also white but with a light pastel yellow shirt and no cummerbund or tie. Yami's tux is black with a red cummerbund and the tie is undone, along with the first three shirt buttons. Yugi's tuxedo is also black but with a purple cummerbund and a long white tie.

Yami Masaka: This is the fan-service section! We are doing this in the White Revolution and we want to do it in this story to turns to a door on the other side of the room and gives another sharp whistle Hey! Nizu-babe! Come on out

Nizuki: hidden behind the closed door I'm not coming out

Yami: Don't be such a baby, you can't look that bad.

Yugi: whispering to Nero this coming from the guy who refused to wear a bowtie even under threat of a hetero couple story

Nero: covering mouth with both his hands to smother giggles

Nizuki: still behind the door Angels are supposed to be 'pretty' people. We are just supposed to be strong. I refuse to be some…some…show-pony

Masaka: concerned look My yami…what did you make Nizuki wear

Yami Masaka: A dress leaning back in her chair staring evilly at the door Nizuki! You either come out of there or I haul you out of there! Coming out on your own will definitely cause you less bruises

Nizuki: STILL behind the door I don't want to come out!!!

Masaka: My yami…maybe we should

Yami Masaka jumps up from her chair, charges over to the door and yanks the whole thing off its hinges. She reaches inside the room, despite a whole barrage of shrieks and spells, and hauls Nizuki out into the light

Yugi: Oh

Ryou: My

Nero: SILVER CLOUDS!!

Yami: pouts and heads back to the other door Now I definitely don't want to be here. She's too pretty

Masaka: PLEASE REVIEW OR ELSE YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT NIZUKI IS WEARING!!!

Yami Masaka: Damn, I dress 'em up good

Nizuki: grrroooooan!


	15. Sometimes silence hurts the most

Masaka: I take back what I said before about my writer's block being gone

Yami Masaka: What are you talking about; you haven't even tried to start this chapter yet!

Masaka: I know it's just blushes and crosses arms defensively over chest I-I don't want to . . .

I'm kinda scared my writing will come out sucky

Yami Masaka: AAWWWWWWHHH! glomps Masaka You are so CUTE when you are embarrassed, hikari-mine!! Don't worry you can always edit these chapters later

Masaka: blush fading a bit I-I guess . . .Now can you let me go so I can start the chapter

Yami Masaka: Nope! I'm staying glomped onto you for the rest of this chapter

Masaka: But-

Yami Masaka: No buts, yamis need affection and reassurance too! A yami's reassurance comes from cuddling their hikari.

Masaka: wide eyed in surprise Is that how it works? Well, that certainly explains why a tough guy like Yami could turn snuggly when he's with Yugi

Yami: marching into the room out of seemingly nowhere just like always I AM NOT SNUGGLY!!

Masaka and Yami Masaka: Where the hell did you come from?

Yami: I was just at pauses remembering the danger of this particular question I was um . . . hanging out with Yugi?? smiles brilliantly hoping a slight speckling of shonen-ai will defuse the authoress' temper

Masaka: Really? But I thought you were too embarrassed to hang out with him because you nearly blurted out your feelings for him the last time you were alone

Yami: face blank Ummm . . . who are you talking about?

Masaka: confused What do you mean I was just asking . . . Oh forget it

Yami Masaka: cuddles closer to Masaka, purring like a kitten Chapter start now, hikari?

Masaka: Yah, I guess so.

Yugi and Nero were taking the long way home.

They had a couple of hours to waste before Yugi HAD to be back at the Kame Game Shop to open it.

Grandpa Motu was by far the most understanding parental-guardian that Yugi had ever heard of (and the way his peers always moaned and wailed about their guardians at school, Yugi had heard A LOT) but the elderly man wasn't above punishing his grandson.

Yugi was in charge of running the game shop while Solomon was over in America visiting with Arthur Hawkins and apparently looking for more exotic games to stock the shop with.

Yugi wasn't sure if he believed that last part. His grandpa wasn't exactly a devoted businessman and would think nothing of just letting things slide for a month so he could visit with his old friend.

Yugi didn't particularly find anything wrong with that; he was the same way after all. But when grandpa ran off like he did it made Yugi's life that much harder.

The Motu's neighbor, Ms. Hongo, whom many people thought was Yugi's okaasan for all the time she spent looking after Solomon and Yugi, was going to really give Grandpa an earful when he got back. She thought Grandpa was way too irresponsible and that the man needed to think about his grandson's financial-welfare more.

The fact that Yugi's financial-welfare was secure thanks to all the tournaments he'd won, and the two endorsement deals he'd signed (one for Kaiba Corp. and the other for Dark Clown Game Store) seemed to allude Ms. Hongo.

"So, what do YOU think I should do to 'strengthen my spirit', Nero?" Yugi asked absentmindedly, his mind drifting back to the museum.

"I not sure," Nero sighed hopelessly. "If I was a real guardian angel, I could help Yugi-sama . . . but I'm not."

"No you're not," Yugi pouted as well. He then shuddered playfully and winked at the cherub when Nero looked at the younger (by about a thousand years) boy curiously. "But I think it's better that way. I'm not like Ryou, if you started throwing fireballs I might just run away in terror."

"Yugi-sama is just trying to make me feel better," Nero pouted.

"I mean it. Nizuki can scare the heck out of me," Yugi insisted.

"Oookay, Yugi, whatever you say," Nero said shaking his head in disbelief . . . much the same way Yugi did when Yami said ridiculous things.

Huh, was Yugi really that big an influence of Nero?

"Was Yami-san upset with Yugi-sama this morning?" Nero asked seemingly out of nowhere.

"Huh? Why would you ask something like that?" Yugi blinked in surprise.

"Nero felt Yugi-sama's upset feelings, right here," Nero said putting a hand over his heart.

"You could," Yugi blinked owlishly. He then winced and shook his head. "Well, Yami wasn't exactly pleased with me but I don't think it'll be too bad. He probably forgot everything that happened already. Tea has a brain-washing effect on my darker half."

"Why does Yami-san even like Tea-san?" Nero frowned, wrinkling his nose in a terribly adorable expression.

"I'm not sure. . . I never really could figure out what Tea did to attract Yami to her. . . I mean their courtship was well. . . to be honest they barely even had a courtship. Yami just kind of tackle-kissed her one day when we all went to the movies."

"Oh?" Nero blinked in shock. Yugi noticed the expression and laughed.

"Oh is definitely right. Honda and Joey both jumped away from the two of them like they'd caught fire. They were totally shocked. Then of course once Yami finally came up for air they heckled the heck out of him."

"What did Yugi-sama do?" Nero asked curiously.

"I . . . didn't do anything," Yugi frowned.

A moment of silence passed then Yugi broke it by letting a pained hiss escape his lips.

"Is Yugi-sama okay?" Nero gasped in worry.

"Yah, I'm fine. It's just these bruises. I haven't gotten so badly banged up since before I solved the Millennium Puzzle," Yugi winced, trying to adjust his stride so that there was less weight going through his bad leg.

"Maybe I can use my magic to make it better. I promised to do that before, but then Yami-san pulled Yugi-sama away before I could," Nero pouted.

"Okay," Yugi smiled weakly. He was hoping the little angel would have forgotten about the song therapy.

It wasn't as though Yugi didn't think Nero COULD heal him, it was just that the smallest hikari had some not-so-great memories about how Yami had tried to use HIS magic to 'help' Yugi.

And we aren't talking about the disturbing and yet at the same time helpful mind-crushing of enemies here. Yami had tried to use shadow magic for a lot of domestic tasks, most of which really didn't need to be simplified any.

Yugi still had nightmares about what had happened with the dryer, and he refused to unload the laundry by himself.

"Come on Yugi-sama," Nero said, tugging Yugi's arm and pulling him off into the park, which they had been walking by.

Nero towed Yugi along through the greenery for a while until they finally reached a fairly secluded spot.

Nero gently positioned Yugi in a beam of sunlight coming through the trees then closed his own eyes and let out a small 'hmm' as he warmed up his vocal chords.

Yugi stood in awe as Nero stretched out his one good wing and clasped his hands together. The little one really seemed angelic in that moment, untouchable, untaintable and powerful beyond mortal understanding.

Nero's voice started out soft, like the faintest coo of a dove but rapidly it began to get stronger and louder until Yugi felt as if he were standing on a cliff before the ocean, listening to the waves crashing ceaselessly against the rocks.

And it was when the song had reached this high-point that Yugi noticed his body didn't hurt anymore. The bruises had even changed color from deep dark purples and blacks to light greens, yellows and browns.

Yugi watched in avid fascination as the width of each bruise began to get smaller and smaller-

Then suddenly Nero's voice broke off.

Yugi's head whipped up in concern. Nero was still standing in his same place but his wing was back to its invisible-state and the little cherub was panting like crazy.

"Nero, are you all-" Yugi began.

"I'm all right Yugi-sama," Nero wheezed, " I just . . .not strong enough to sing fully the Healing Hymn."

Yugi gave Nero a long concerned look but then nodded in acceptance and took the angel's hand in his and headed out of the park towards the Game Shop.

"I think we should go back to my place and take it easy," Yugi explained and when Nero started to work up a protest he added, "I mean I am pretty bruised and I shouldn't be expending too much energy."

Because Yugi said he wanted to go home to rest up for his own sake Nero didn't feel angry like he was being considered too delicate and he followed happily.

((A few hours later))

Yami had never left the school building as fast as he did that day. He hadn't even moved this fast when Tea had told him that she had bought a new teeny bikini and wanted his opinion on it.

Seriously, the man had not got that fast for a bikini! That should have told him something about himself and how much more important Yugi was to him compared to even his girlfriend but unfortunately Yami isn't/wasn't/will never be the insightful type.

The second Yami's boots had hit the cement and he was out of sight of Counciler Harrison (who would have KILLED the ex-pharaoh for running in the halls) he took off like a shot.

He was just a blur running down the sidewalk, and just a breeze ruffling the leaves running through the park.

About a street-length away from the shop Yami finally slowed down to a more human speed so he could fix his wind-tousled hair and wrinkled clothing.

He didn't want Yugi to think there was anything wrong after all. Because there wasn't really anything wrong. Not at all.

Just because Yami didn't trust that little hikari-hugging, behind his back hikari-dating, kitten-smiling, chirpy-voice-talking little. . .little. . . Just because Yami didn't like Nero didn't mean he had a reason to burst into the game shop.

Ooooooooh he wanted to. Yami really wanted to burst into the game shop and interrogate his aibou and make sure nothing had happened this morning.

Unfortunately Yami couldn't do any of that because he knew Yugi wouldn't like it. Yugi wouldn't get 'mad' per say but he'd frown in that small way of his that made Yami feel like the biggest failure on the face of the Earth.

So Yami simply strolled up to the game shop, calm and cool as anything, and opened the front door to see. . . something that REALLY ticked Yami off.

That little twit, Nero, was sitting behind the register with Yugi playing cards!! With his aibou!!!

How dare he do that! Yami was the one who played games with his other-half while the younger was watching the shop!!!

And on top of that capital crime the two were smiling and laughing and nibbling on what Yami knew by scent to be Yugi's secret stash of peanut butter cookies. Yami wasn't even allowed to eat any of them!!

What in hell's name was going on here!! What was Nero doing here!! Why was he hanging out with Yugi like they were best friends!! Yami was Yugi's best friend (well there was also Joey to consider but he didn't count) not this little American brat!!

"What is HE doing here?" Yami growled in place of his usual greeting.

Yugi looked up from his hand of Uno cards (surprisingly Nero was putting up a good fight against the Prince –Yami was the King -of Games) with a cookie hanging almost out of his mouth.

"Yawme?" Yugi asked around the treat.

"Don't you have your own place to stay? Why are you here?" Yami snarled at Nero.

Nero didn't even flinch under the glare of the man who had caused ten-foot-tall bullies to cringe. The little angel just put down a blue three on the pile of cards on the desk and said calmly, "Yugi and me are hanging out."

"You-" Yami started.

"Yami, what are YOU doing here? Didn't school get out like just two minutes ago?" Yugi asked after he had looked at the clock for confirmation and had swallowed his cookie.

"I . . . wanted to make sure you were all right, since you didn't show up to school at all," Yami said. His voice was tinged just slightly with embarrassment.

"You mean you RAN all the way from SCHOOL!! Holy Cra-" Yugi looked over at Nero then changed his choice of words, "Geesh! That's an insanely long run, I mean we usually take the bus to school! You must have thought that I had been crippled and was lying on the floor an inch from death."

"I worry," Yami shrugged.

"Obviously," Yugi and Nero both giggled. Yami growled threateningly at the little angel.

"Well as you can see, I am fine," Yugi said getting to his feet and gathering up the various snack wrappers and soiled dishes from off the counter to take back to the kitchen. "So I guess you got yourself into a huff over nothing."

Yami frowned and put his school bag and shoes in the janitor's closet (which was really becoming the shoe closet even though Grandpa had told the two kids constantly to not do it) and followed Yugi back into the house.

Nero watched the two in worry then dashed to the door and flipped the sign to 'closed'. He then went after the two boys. He knew Nizuki wanted him to keep the two boys separated.

"Yugi . . . I-I'm sorry I got a little paranoid. You know it's only because I worry about you," Yami said as he watched his aibou fill the sink with water and soap to start on the dishes.

"I know you worry about me," Yugi said without ever once turning to look at the ex-pharaoh.

//Yugi// Yami tried to nudge through their mind-link//Come on talk to me.//

"About what?" Yugi said out in the open.

"About why you are being so distant!" Yami pouted.

"I'm not being distant," Yugi responded.

Yami frowned and was about to begin an argument but then Nero dashed into the room, rolling up the sleeves of his Badtz Maru sweatshirt up to his elbows.

"I help wit h dishes, Yugi-sama," the little one chirped.

"Thank you, Nero," Yugi smiled at him.

Yami felt like hitting something. What was going on here? Why wasn't Yugi talking to him? Why was he acting so warm towards the brat? Wasn't Yugi in the least bit happy that Yami was here?

"Yugi . . ." Yami all but whimpered.

:/Stay strong Yugi-sama/: Nero goaded when he sensed Yugi's faltering spirit.

/B-but . . . he wants to talk to me! He was just worried and he wants to just . . ./

:/NO! Yugi-sama has to SHOW Yami-san that Yugi-sama isn't going to just wait on the sidelines for all his life waiting for Yami-san to come and hang out!/: Nero stabbed in deep.

/AAAARGH!! Hmmmph! Fine!! Stupid plan . . . Stupid me for following the stupid plan/

Nero giggled and blew a cluster of bubbles off the plate he was drying.

"Yami, will you please look after the shop until closing time? I would do it but I've been looking after the store since I got home about three hours ago and I need to study a little bit and start dinner."

Yami turned to go back to the store but Nero interrupted.

"But Yugi-sama, didn't you already do most of closing stuff already? I know you swept up the shop before we started our Uno game and the cash-register is locked. I turned the sign over. All that Yami-sama would really need to do would be to pull down the shudders on the windows and lock the doors," Nero stated. Nizuki had told Nero in private that he should, whenever possible, remind Yami of all the things he was neglecting to do to help Yugi. Nizuki said it would really hit Yami hard and make him realize his mistakes sooner.

Judging by how Yami's knuckles were fisted and white with rage, Nero guessed that Nizuki's advice had been spot on.

"Oh . . . I guess we DID do all that already, huh?" Yugi laughed in embarrassment. "Sorry Yami. Could you just lock up then?"

"Fine aibou," Yami said through clenched teeth before disappearing through the door.

Yugi finally turned around to look over where Yami had stood. If Yugi was expected to ignore his dearest friend like this Yugi definitely wanted the distraction of some angel activity. He would break if he had the extra-time on his hands to think about how much he wanted to hang out with Yami all the time.

"Please notice me soon Yami . . . Please . . . Please notice me soon," Yugi whispered almost inaudibly.

Nero still heard it. And it made his sensitive little heart twang in sympathy. Though he knew Heaven wouldn't been interested in the hopes of a runaway angel Nero couldn't help but pray anyway.

'Please help Yugi-sama and Yami-sama get together soon. Please, please help Yugi-sama . . . He deserve much more happiness than he has been able to get for himself,' Nero prayed silently.

Masaka: Well that was a really nice filler chapter sigh

Yami Masaka: That last bit about Yami and Yugi was good

Masaka: I guess. . . well maybe in the next chapter I'll step up the tempo a little and have Nizuki start with her program

Yami Masaka: And you have to have Nero come with Yugi to the school

Masaka: OH YAH!! smiles semi-evilly but mostly happy That will be fun

Yami Masaka: calls over her shoulder at the dressing room doors Okay people. It's fan-service time!! Get your pretty butts out here!!

Nero, Yugi and Yami all come walking out of the dressing room, followed by a bashfully blushing Ryou.

Nero is wearing a black top-hat with a diaper and a banner proclaiming 'Happy New Year' over his chest.

Yugi is dressed in a sparkling silver backless shirt and black pants with a party hat on his head and a glass of champagne in one hand. Yami is similarly dressed in a party hat and is holding a flute of champagne. He's dressed in his usually sinful tight black leather pants and a cashmere sweater with '2008, Welcome the Year of the Pig' written in silver on the chest.

Ryou is dressed like the Old Year, in a gray cape covering him almost head to foot, in one hand he holds a scythe and on his rope belt is an hourglass.

Yami Masaka: smiles Now don't you all look festive. frowns But where is Nizuki

Nizuki: charging in anger You enjoy humiliating me don't you?

Nizuki is dressed in a silver ball-gown that billows around her legs but from the waist up hugs her every curve. There is only one shoulder strap on this dress. Her shoes look like they've been robbed from Cinderella's closet and sparkle every time the angel moves.

Yami: grumbling She looks better than me again starts walking away I'm gone

Yugi: snuggling Nero Oh you look so cute as the new year, Nero

Ryou: I'm glad they didn't make me wear a beard with this costume

Yami Masaka: Thank you all for your support and continue to read our stories!! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!


	16. It's not so easy to change the world

Masaka: dancing by herself La de da . . .la de daaaaaaaaaa

Yami Masaka: reaches out and taps her aibou on the shoulder Aib-

Masaka: interrupts by screaming and whirling away AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! Sheesh yami!!! Don't sneak up on me like that

Yami Masaka: hand over her heart My god, you scared me by yelling like that! You would've thought I had put a gun to your head the way you screeched

Masaka: I was listening to music!! I have to find Yugi's Karaoke Club Audition Song

Yami Masaka: You still haven't found one?

Masaka: Obviously not

Jason: comes trotting out of nowhere kind of like Yami always does then collapses in a fluffy pile at Masaka's feet Woof

Masaka: Jason!! You're back

Yami Masaka: disgusted look on her face Dog. Where have you been?

Jason: stares up at Yami Masaka's face for a long moment then snuggles closer to Masaka Ruuuf

Yami Masaka: incensed look on her face ARE YOU MOCKING ME, MUTT!!!

Masaka: Jason, the disclaimer please

Jason: picks up the usual sign in his mouth

Sign: I don't own YuGiOh or any of the other products mentioned in my fan fiction. I don't write this stuff for profit, because heaven knows if I did YuGiOh would've turned out quite differently.

If you have problems with boy/boy relationships or are easily offended by personal misconstructions of biblical figures than I, by legal obligation, should tell you to leave this story right now and burn your computer for even going to this genre on this website.

If anyone wants to use Nero, Nizuki or the other original characters that appear in my story please send me a rough outline of what you are planning to do with them (plllleaaaaaaaase nothing graphic) and I will see if I can get the characters to agree. Don't ask me to just fork them over because they are practically people in their own right . . . if not completely developed and/or incompatible with reality (Nero)

Masaka: GOOOOOOD JASON!!! glomps dog and starts a rampage of baby-talking

Yami Masaka: AIBOU!!!! Grrr stupid mutt!! Why did I ever buy that thing for you? I want it returned to Count D yesterday!!!

Masaka: NO!! JASON-MINE!!! runs away

Yami Masaka: WAIT!! AIBOU!!! THE CHAPTER IS ABOUT TO START COME BACK!!!

Nizuki was actually rather impressed at how Ryou had managed to plan his life around his yami's moods.

The boy knew every restaurant in the county that allowed costumers to loiter around for a few hours.

But Nizuki was also ticked that her protectorate had been forced to plan his life around his yami's moods. The way he hung around town was too close to the behavior of a teenage runaway or a vagabond.

As such Nizuki decided bright and early the next morning that she would start Ryou's case. She wanted to change the white-haired boy's life for the better as soon as possible.

Most of the work would be for Ryou to do on his own but Nizuki still had some stuff she needed to do. She wanted to look into the tomb-robber's file. There was something about him that well . . . something about him didn't sit right with her.

Bakura was darker than some of the demons Nizuki had come across in her life but there was also a . . . a sadness about him that made Nizuki feel like she should be trying to save him.

If Bakura was just some ancient-evil possessed tomb-thief that had weaseled his way out of limbo then Nizuki should have felt nothing but bloody-rage towards the dark spirit. But she didn't.

Nizuki just felt like paddling that idiot's backside until he couldn't sit down for a month. Those two sensations were different. One was serious the other was a sign of Nizuki's brand of delinquent therapy.

But anyway that morning when the sunlight crept over the horizon, after she'd refilled her sunlight bottle, Nizuki made her cot and walked out of the attic.

First off she checked in Bakura's room. Just like Ryou had predicted it would be, the room was empty.

Taking this advantage Nizuki slid quietly into the room, making sure to close the door behind her. She was going to do a little investigating.

"Okay let's see what's to see," Nizuki said cracking her fingers and loosening her neck. "Okay there aren't really any decorations in the room . . . It's all really just your standard stuff. . . I bet this was a guest room, everything looks way too plain to have been a bedroom."

Nizuki walked further into the room and knelt at the bedside to look under the bed.

"YUCK!" Nizuki blanched scooting back a few inches.

Underneath the bed were stacks of dirty magazines, a scattering of empty condom boxes, a few of the steak knives from the kitchen and bottles of what Nizuki really hoped wasn't lube.

"Well . . . he's a nasty little bugger now isn't he," Nizuki laughed nervously to herself. Sure she knew that . . . intercourse of the sexual kind was a relatively big part of human relationships but it didn't sit well with her.

She was an angel and acts of physical pleasure just seemed . . . eeeeew.

"O-okay well . . . Bakura is obviously a . . . mature person . . . But somehow I have a feeling that bed-hopping isn't really satisfying for him . . . I mean if he was happy he would stop trying to kill off all his brain cells with booze and he wouldn't be so aggressive towards Ryou . . . Hmmm. . ."

Nizuki got to her feet and walked over to the wardrobe. Taking special precaution to pull on a pair of gloves and put in a nose-plug she gently tugged the doors open.

Just as she expected a flood of clothes came pouring out of the closet. They all smelled like alcohol and sex, and not in a pleasant way either.

"Horck! Gag!!" Nizuki blanched. She walked to the other side of the room trying to get the scent of drunkenness and lust out of her nose. It didn't work but the smell was a little bit less next to the window.

Speaking of the window, from her position beside it Nizuki could see that the window not only had the black curtains of gothic dreams, but there were also boards nailed over the window.

"Sheesh, this guy really doesn't like the sun, does he," Nizuki sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head.

She was tempted to tear the window open but she wanted to do it sometime later when it was just her and Bakura in the house. That way she could yell and fight that twit all she wanted to without having to worry about Ryou getting hurt.

Nizuki sighed and turned back to the closet. Much to her surprise the clothes in the closet were pretty decent.

Unlike his timid aibou, Bakura didn't find anything wrong with flashing a bare arm. Also the pants were much more figure hugging than Ryou's were.

Nizuki actually indulged a little moment of day-dreaming, imagining dressing Ryou up in some of the more daring things in this mess of clothes like the mercury colored clubbing pants with the lace-up front or the artistically ripped black t-shirt.

Then of course Nizuki got over it and when back to her investigation (okay she had snagged a few clothes to clean and dress Ryou up in even against his will but she was mostly focused anyway).

Digging through the pockets and folds of the clothing Nizuki found the tiniest traces of drugs. Luckily there wasn't anything really damaging but there were definite traces of marijuana.

"What in the Silver Clouds is with this guy? Sex, alcohol, drugs. And he doesn't come back here even the slightest bit relaxed. . . Silver Clouds across the moon, could he be . . . trying to suppress something?" Nizuki thought. Nervously she fiddled with her ear-cuff.

It made sense. If a person wanted to forget bad memories the best way to get rid of it was by going out of their head. Sex, alcohol and drugs all caused an out of body experience to a certain extent.

"But . . . why?" Nizuki thought to herself.

Just then someone knocked on the door behind her.

"WWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Nizuki yelled in surprise.

"GAAA! N-Nizuki are you all right in there?" Ryou asked, peeking his head inside. His face was paler than normal and his eyes were wide.

Nizuki put a hand on her pounding chest and laughed. "Oh my Silver Clouds! You startled me, Ry-chan."

"Uh . . . s-sorry?" Ryou said hesitantly. "I didn't mean to. But um . . . what are you doing in Bakura's bedroom?"

"Oh I was just raiding his closet is all," Nizuki said holding up the clothing she had picked out.

Ryou stared at her for a long moment then quietly asked, "Is that all?"

Nizuki felt a moment of internal conflict. She didn't want to get Ryou worked up over his other-half anymore than he obviously was but she didn't want to lie to her protectorate either.

"Let me do the worrying around here, Ry-chan," Nizuki winked, "I'm just working on your case. That's all you need to know."

Ryou pouted slightly in agitation but nodded anyway. "Well . . . If you say so Nizuki. I just wanted to ask you if you are going to start my angelic change-of-lifestyle thing today."

"Tut, tut, tut, Ry-chan! These things cannot be rushed. You just get your butt to school on time then we'll see about starting our work," Nizuki said wagging a finger chastisingly in front of Ryou's face.

"But-" Ryou couldn't help but say.

"I'll go wake up Nero and then make breakfast. While I'm doing that I want you to gather your books and get dressed."

Nizuki paused a moment to sigh theatrically. "It's such a shame you have to wear a uniform to school; otherwise I'd have so much fun dressing you up."

"Eeeeeerr, y-yah good thing huh?" Ryou shivering taking a nervous step away from the fantasizing angel

"Yah it would've been sooooo fun to dress you up. . . Hey but I can-"

"I-I'm gonna go get dressed now Nizuki, you go wake up Nero!!" Ryou interrupted with an embarrassed squeak.

The poor boy darted out of the room and into his own room like Nizuki had threatened to lit him on fire.

Nizuki watched her protectorate go then laughed brilliantly.

"Well there is one thing I don't want changed about you, Ryou. You are so cute when you're flustered."

Despite his anger and jealousy yesterday Yami didn't hang over Yugi that morning.

Sure Yami kept digging for information about what happened yesterday from the smaller boy during breakfast but when they met up with Honda, Joey and Tea to walk to school, Yami turned all his attention on Tea, just like always.

Joey and Honda started up a conversation about which female superstar was the hottest leaving Yugi to walk pretty much alone. Well not alone. Yugi was with the group, he just wasn't a part of it.

But in a way Yugi was actually kind of glad no one was talking to him. Joey had been starting to treat him a little different since it had been announced that Nero and Yugi were a sort-of item.

Yugi didn't want to jump to any conclusions but he was getting the strong impression that Joey Wheeler was a bit of a homophobe.

Yugi hoped that it was just a defense Joey had created within himself to keep from admitting to . . . certain things but Yugi couldn't be sure.

Joey was just such a close friend that Yugi didn't dare stir up the waters by asking outright what Joey thought. Yugi was already getting separated from the blonde because of the guy's many odd-jobs; Yugi didn't want to separate them any further.

"Hey there's Ryou!" Honda said, suddenly breaking from his heated debt with Joey to look down the street. "YO RYOU!! OVER HERE!!!"

The white-haired hikari looked up in surprise and waved at the oncoming group. "Good morning minna-san!"

"Hey Ryou, how are ya doin' today? We missed ya at school yesterday," Joey greeted warmly.

"Yah, we had an English quiz yesterday and without you there, this knucklehead didn't have anyone to copy off of," Honda said grabbing his pal in a headlock.

"WHAT WAS THAT!! I'll have ya know I've been studyin' more lately. I don't copy off a' people anymore, even if they do get straight 'A's like Ryou always does," Joey said, shoving Honda off and crossing his arms defiantly over his chest.

"Oh yah, Mister Hot Shot? So tell me, what kinda grade did you get?" Honda smirked.

"I gotta . . . .mmmph mummhuph," Joey muttered under his breath.

"What was that Joe? I couldn't hear you," Honda said smirking even wider.

"I GOTTA FORTY-SEVEN OKAY!!!" Joey snapped.

"Well that's better than the zeros you usually get, Joey," Yugi tried to smooth over.

"Okay, okay so maybe they ain't the best grades but at least I'm doin' the work. That's gotta count for somethin'," Joey sneered at the brunette, basically ignoring Yugi's comment entirely.

"Oh it counts . . .for grade-schoolers!" Honda snickered.

"THAT IS IT!! YOU ARE A DEAD MAN, HIRITO!!" Joey roared tackling his friend to the pavement.

The others all groaned and a sweat-drop formed on all of their foreheads. Yugi then turned to give Ryou a more proper greeting.

"It really is nice to see you this morning, Ryou," Yugi offered with a smile.

"It's nice to be seen," Ryou stretched casually. In an undertone he said, "Nero got to the house all right, by the way. He came over pretty late though, what were you two up to?"

"Well, Yami came home in a big huff so Nero stayed over for dinner to keep me and him separated," Yugi explained in an equally soft voice.

"What are you two whispering about over there? Hair-styling tips?" Tea interrupted with an irritatingly high-pitched giggle.

"As a matter of fact, we were discussing my cousin and what she was going to be doing today, since I have to go to school and can't hang out with her," Ryou covered flawlessly. "Apparently she wants to go and check out the harbor where the duelist podium that Malik designed is still standing. She's a bit of an environmentalist and she'll probably have some letters she wants me to send out about how it should be removed to help keep the environmental integrity of the bay intact, and also that by allowing the podium to stay there the city is endorsing the use of duel disks as a way of threatening someone."

Yugi couldn't help but start at the taller hikari in awe. Ryou really did have a gift for tale-telling. That sounded just like something Nizuki would do.

"Oh . . . But isn't that podium a tourist attraction? I know a lot of people still like visiting the places where Yami-love fought in Battle City," Tea said snuggling up against the ex-pharaoh as she said his name.

"Do you really think a few fans would be enough to stop Ryou's cousin when she gets started," Yami chuckled warmly.

"Hmmmph. I guess you're right. That woman wouldn't stop unless she was shot down by a military sniper," Tea pouted.

"I don't think there is anything wrong with having dedication," Ryou said, his eyes narrowing slightly. He didn't like Gardener very much and lately his dislike for her had been getting even stronger. It was like something in his gut just knew that there was something _wrong _about the wannabe-ballerina.

"ANYWAY!" Yugi interrupted loudly. "Don't you guys think we should try breaking up Honda and Joey before we're all late?"

"And just how do you propose we break them up?" Yami asked in politely curiosity.

Yugi looked thoughtfully at the two, rubbing his chin in thought then he looked at there surroundings.

"Ah! Wait here just a second," Yugi said after he spotting something promising.

The boy dashed off into a nearby building leaving the others to control the sidewalk traffic around the quarreling teenagers.

"Guuuuuys! Come on!! Knock it off, already!" Tea whined.

The two completely ignored the brunette in favor of trying to strangle each other.

"These two are almost as bad as Seto and Joey or Otogi and Honda," Ryou sighed heavily. "They won't stop until one of them cries uncle and that could take a very long time."

"You're telling me," Yami laughed warmly, his arm securely around his girlfriend's shoulder. "Once during a sleep-over they started a tussle that lasted three hours until Otogi finally managed to herd the two of them out of the door and into the snow."

"I don't remember that, when did THAT happen," Ryou blinked curiously.

"Oh it happened last Christmas," Tea smiled, "You were apparently stuck at home baby-sitting your other-half to make sure he didn't go on a thieving rampage to steal your neighbors Christmas decorations and their gifts. Or at least, that's what you told us you were doing."

Ryou felt another twinge of wrongness in his gut coming from the blue-eyed girl. There was something about the way she was acting, or maybe the way she wasn't acting that was really making him unsettled. In fact, Ryou was sure if she acted any worse the feeling would develop into nausea.

"I'm back!" Yugi panted as he came jogging back across the street with a pair of Styrofoam cups in his hands.

"Aibou, what are you-" Yami began to ask.

Yugi didn't answer and just upended the two cups over the two fighting boy's heads. Two cups of steaming hot water hit them square in the faces causing them both to yell and spring away from one another.

"AHHHHH! What the hell was that for!!" Joey wailed.

"Ouch, hot, ouch, pain, ouch, hot, ouch, my face," Honda whimpered.

"You two were causing such a fuss I figured this was the only way to make you stop," Yugi shrugged, tossing the cups away in the nearest garbage can.

"That was mean, Yugi," Joey scowled. Yugi flinched ever so slightly and shrugged apologetically.

"What other choice did I have?" Yugi asked timidly.

"Well you could have-"

"Um guys," Ryou interrupted looking at his wristwatch. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if we don't move it right now we are going to be late."

In fear of their lives should Councilor Harrison find them out of class the group of teenagers cut off all chatter and immediately started off towards Domino High School.

They got to just a block away when Ryou started to fall behind, breathing heavily and flushed to ghost white.

"You okay, Ryou?" Honda asked, from the head of the pack.

"I-I need. . .to slow down, I can't keep running," Ryou wheezed, putting a hand over his thumping heart.

Yugi slow his own steps till he was completely stopped and then went back to check on his fellow light. Being an albino, Ryou really had to look after his health. Sometimes the boy would get terrible heat-stroke just walking down a sunny street.

"Yug', what are ya doin'? We'll be late!!" Joey called over his shoulder to the smallest boy.

"You guys keep going, we'll be fine," Yugi called back.

"But-" Yami started to protest. He didn't even get past that one word before the other three in the group grabbed various articles of the pharaoh's clothes and dragged him along.

Normally if Yugi was willing to be late, they all would be right there with them but lately . . . well lately that loyalty just hadn't been employed very much.

"Y-Yugi . . . don't be silly . . . y-you'll get. . .y-you'll get in trouble," Ryou wheezed.

"Yah I will but I don't care. It's not like I mind going to detention. At the very least going there will keep me busy enough that I'm not sulking around the game shop missing Yami," Yugi said plainly. "Besides to tell you the truth I'm really not looking forward to getting to school. It has been depressing lately, with no one to hang out with during lunch or morning break."

"B-But . . . C-Councilor H-Harrison," Ryou protested.

"That man is a demon if he thinks your condition is some sort of act," Yugi said. He slung Ryou's arm over his shoulder and started off their walk towards school.

"Uuuuugh," Ryou whined after he realized Yugi wasn't going anywhere. "You are a great guy Yugi, what the heck could you possible need to do to make yourself stronger than you are now?"

"I'm not strong, Ryou," Yugi laughed without humor. "Really I'm not."

"You could've fooled me," Ryou groaned.

Yugi just gave another humorless laugh and continued his trek towards school. As his thoughts when to what he really needed to improve up in himself he felt a familiar phantom twinge work up on his wrist underneath the safe shield of his leather-studded wristlet.

'_You have really got it wrong, Ryou. I'm not strong at all. If I was . . . then I would be able to forget that night and I would be able to get out into the world and really enjoy myself."\_

It took them a while, because Ryou had to stop for a drink to cool off, but about ten minutes later the two boys reached the gates of Domino High. The closed and locked gates of Domino High, it might be added.

"See, I told you we'd be late," Ryou moaned, leaning wearily against the gates.

"Yah, you were right," Yugi sighed, also leaning against the gates.

"Wait. . . Hey look there's someone out in the school-yard! HEY!!" Ryou called out.

"Uh Ryou-" Yugi said.

"Come on Yugi, wave or else he might not notice us. HEY!!!" Ryou called a little louder.

"I know, but Ryou-" Yugi began again.

"HEY YOU SIR!! CAN YOU LET US IN PLEASE!!" Ryou called out.

"Ryou, that's Councilor Harrison!" Yugi hissed.

"Oh," Ryou said, his arms instantly stopping their frantic waving.

But it was too late. They'd already grabbed the councilor's attention and the man-mountain was walking towards them an alarmingly brisk clip.

"Oh no, what do we do now?" Ryou whimpered.

"We tell him you weren't feeling well, he knows that you get sick!" Yugi said; his voice a few octaves higher than it normally was.

"B-But he's still gonna get mad! H-he'll blame me for keeping you from getting here on time or-"

"Do you really think I hadn't thought of that possibility?" Yugi squeaked.

"Bakura-san, Motu-san, why in the name of faith are you two doing outside the gate? Don't you know that these gates are locked after eight twenty-seven?" Councilor Harrison growled.

"We realize that sir, but Ryou wasn't feeling very well so we had to stop for a second and-"

"I am aware that Ryou's . . . physical disposition can cause some unexpected problems, but YOU Motu-san, should know better than to be late."

Yugi couldn't even defend himself. Councilor Harrison really scared him and Yugi could never defend himself against the pure menace that dripped off the councilor.

"S-Sorry sir," Yugi said softly.

"Oh you WILL be sorry! It's detention for you, Motu-san. And a detention for you as well Bakura-san, for keeping your classmate from getting the full benefit of a proper education. I will expect you both in the old auditorium five minutes after the final bell. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," The two boys agreed.

"Very good," Harrison said. He then unlocked the gate and held it open for the two. "Now both of you get to your homeroom."

"Yes sir," the two repeated before dashing off across the open school-yard.

Harrison stayed back a minute to rub his forehead warily. "What did I ever do to deserve this job?"

Behind him in the bushes a pair of green eyes flashed brilliantly with glee.

Masaka: ANOTHER demon attack?

Yami Masaka: YOU are asking ME?

Masaka: Ugh! What am I doing? What am I doing? I didn't plan to get Harrison mixed up in this? Uuuuugh, the story is stretching out forever!!

Yami Masaka: But you are getting further into it!

Masaka: I guess . . . awwwwwh!!! That means I gotta work on this story more!!!!!!

Yami Masaka: Oh the great labors of an authoress rolls her eyes Think of it as disciplinary practice for tackling bigger projects.

Masaka: I'll whine if I want to!!!

Yami Masaka: Sorry folks, no fan-service this chapter.


	17. Why Yami is called the King Of Games

Yami Masaka: Aibou, I am thoroughly impressed

Masaka: playing with Jason happily What do you mean?

Yami Masaka: You are trying to work on this story even though you really don't want to. You're working on your writer's dedication

Masaka: Well, I did make a New Year's Resolution to write more and maybe finish my story

Yami Masaka: You might just make your goal if you keep this up, hikari

Masaka: Don't go praising me yet, yami-dearest. I still have to work on my time-management skills so that I can work on this story during Spring Semester

Yami Masaka: Well I have faith in you hikari! GOOOOOO hikari!!!

Masaka: Without further ado ladies and gentlemen here is the next chapter

Yugi wasn't a very good student. He lacked the self-discipline it took to stay focused and dedicated to school work.

Besides, at this moment in time there were far too many more pressing things on Yugi's mind. Namely an ex-pharaoh, said pharaoh's girlfriend, a cute little angel and a demon threat.

Luckily for Yugi, his homeroom teacher was as depressed and worthless as teachers come and was sitting at her desk all but completely doped from all her anti-depressant pills.

(A/N: What the! Sheesh usually I make up nice teachers. . .ehh she'll perk up later on in the story after she gets a dose of mecha Nero cuteness! Okay, just wanted to share my own shock at how this character turned out)

Yugi had so many other things to think over that he didn't even notice. All he could do was think over a particular few memories, wishing that he could let go of all the pain he was holding up.

'_I wonder how the angels would react if they knew,'_ Yugi sighed, unconsciously clenching his hands.

Across the room a pair of garnet eyes was watching Yugi very closely.

Yami was going to stop all this confusion once and for all. He really was. No, he was!

He was going to get up and walk over to Yugi and have the boy explain why the hikari had started acting so standoffish.

Because even though the conscious parts of him didn't realize it yet, the unconscious parts of him were aching to get close to Yugi again.

But just as Yami was beginning to push his chair away from his desk to get up and go over to his little one, someone came along that distracted him completely from his mission and actually went so far as to blow all thoughts of Yugi and Nero completely out of his mind.

"Hey Yami-love; the teacher is down for the count, why don't you and I see if we can't sneak off to the janitor's closet for a little make-out session," Tea said with an audacious wink.

Yami wasn't sure where his girlfriend got her gusto. She hadn't always been like this. In fact, before they had started dating Tea had been very adamant about keeping all her friends chaste as possible.

And yet sometime after Yami had first kissed her all those good morals had just drained away leaving the Tea who could give Joey a run for his money in the perversion department.

Not that Yami was complaining mind you.

(A/N: Hey Yami IS a guy after all. A TEENAGED guy. He thinks he's in love with Tea and he likes to make-out with his girlfriend. Nothing criminal just….eeeeeeeeeeeeew!)

Yami smirked in his devastatingly dashing way and was about to comment when suddenly a voice called out that made his blood run cold.

"YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGI-SAMA!"

Yami's jaw dropped in absolute shock as he saw Nero's petite little form scampering up the tree that stood beside the school-building to the branch that was right into front of the window where Yugi sat.

Nero wasn't by himself either. Nizuki was with him, though she looked a little more reluctant to be here. Her expression was a little vacant like her focus was somewhere else.

(A/N: Technically she IS somewhere else. She's an angel so she can be in two places at once. She is partly with Nero to give him confidence yadda, yadda and the other half of her is out setting things up for Ryou's lessons)

For an eternal second there was silence. Nero just sat on the tree branch waving at Yugi and everyone in the classroom stared at him.

Then the first girl began to squeal which then set off another girl and then all the girls just starting going nuts.

"OOOOOOOOH!!! Who is HE? He's so cute!!"

"He looks just like a little cupid, doesn't he?"

"AWWWWH! How lucky! Yugi got a cute little boy like him to serenade him just like in Romeo and Juliet!"

Almost at the same time Nizuki, Yugi and Ryou all groaned and smacked their heads against the nearest hard object.

"Nero, what are you doing here?" Yugi said, throwing the window open.

Nero and Nizuki climbed over into the room casually.

Today Nero had dressed to impress. He was wearing a super cute over-sized sweater that complimented his eyes with the sleeves rolled up to his elbow and form-complimenting jeans and sneakers. His hair was tied back in a ponytail again.

"I came to visit Yugi-sama! I brought lunch for later too!" Nero said whipping out a bento box from seemingly nowhere.

The box was in the shape of a heart with the word 'love' written across it in Romanji.

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWH!!" The girls in class all cooed in unison.

Yugi tried to stifle a miserable groan. Just because he was gay didn't mean he liked all the fluffy girly romantic junk. When girls started to coo, he usually started to gag.

"Well, that's uh…sweet Nero but um well…you shouldn't be here because I think it's trespassing to come onto school grounds without notifying the administration and-"

Yugi's half thought out complaint was instantly buried because a flock of girls came over and surrounded Nero the moment the angel put down his bento.

"Oh wow, you're cute! How old are you?"

"You're hair is so pretty! Are those streaks natural?"

"What school do you go to little one?"

"Are you Yugi-chan's friend? I bet you are the two of you are so cute you just match!"

Nero blinked owlishly in shock at his admirers then did the most stupid thing anyone could do in such a situation; he smiled sweetly and giggled.

"You girls are so cute."

The females all swooned and sighed in joy.

"That little moron," Nizuki groaned shaking her head warily from her place beside Ryou.

Unfortunately for the lady-angel her words were just enough to turn some people's attention away from Nero onto her. . .namely the guys of Domino's 2-B class.

"Hey are you with that little kid? Are you related?"

"You're really hot! Are you part French or something?"

"Hey what school do you got to?"

"What's your sign?"

"Are you dating anyone?"

And it was Ryou's turn to groan and shake his head.

/Oh this is a disaster!/ Yugi yelped.

//Yugi, what are Nero and Nizuki doing here?// Yami called to his hikari telepathically.

/I think they came over just to give me a lunch but-/

//But then these idiots decided to play 'heckle the newcomers', ne?// Yami had decided to turn down Tea's offer in light of the current situation.

You never knew when teenage fascination could turn into something worse that demanded a yami's special type of attention.

/Yah I guess. . .You know I don't remember them being this persistent when YOU were the one to heckle/

Yami flinched as the memories of his first day at Domino came drifting back to him.

Yugi had managed to 'resurrect' Yami only a few days ago and you could tell the boy was still suffering from the backlash of the spell.

His skin had been chalky white for more than two days and much to everyone's horror the boy seemed to pass out every time he was forced to do anything very physical.

And yet Yugi refused to stay out of school for the few extra days it would take for him to completely recuperate. It wasn't that he was afraid to get too behind in school (though the thought of Councilor Harrison breathing down his neck over how many absences he had did prompt Yugi more than just a little). Yugi just didn't want to be bed-ridden.

Yami had noticed that about his hikari. He'd noticed that Yugi always had to be engaged in something, anything, even if it was just one of his many games.

It was as though the hikari was afraid that if he stopped for even a moment that he'd fall apart.

More than anything it was his need to look out for Yugi that had prompted Yami's own decision to also enroll in Domino High School.

He wanted to be there for his hikari always, to be able to help him through any kind of trouble.

Seto had nearly spewed blood when he'd heard that. The CEO had been the one to make all the proper documents to legally give Yami's life. Obviously the brunette had been ticked off already that he'd been forced to perform a favor for his archrival, and making a school record on top of all the other records was just really the straw that broke the camel's back.

But Seto did make the record in the end and Yami did get into Domino High School (after doing a near Kamikaze Crash Study Marathon to pass the entrance exam . . . there was a lot that the pharaoh had to catch up on after all).

When Yami stepped into the building with Yugi that first day, both boys would've sworn every single head in the whole school whipped around to stare at them in shock.

Many stories had to be made up to explain why Yami looked so much like Yugi and where the elder had come from.

Yugi had concocted a story that not only explained everything, but made Yami sound like the better duelist.

Yugi said that he and Yami had met through their grandfathers.

Yami's supposed grandfather was an old friend of Grandpa Motu's from back in the days when the old man was still a wandering gambler.

Yami and Yugi had become pen pals and close friends, even going so far as to get their hair done in the same style.

(Yami had nearly objected to Yugi's whole story at that part because he really detested the idea of people thinking his hair was fake)

Later in this supposed life, Yugi had gone against Kaiba and become something of a famous duelist.

Yami had been impressed and envious, writing how he was a being Duel Monsters fanatic but his strict father wouldn't allow him to participate in any tournaments.

And then when the Duelist Kingdom invitation (Yami and Yugi had almost gagged at the mere mention of the so-called 'invitation' even in their own story) Yugi had done a truly selfless thing and let Yami take the invitation.

Yami entered under Yugi's name, both because that was the only way he could USE the invitation and also so his father wouldn't know.

And then after Duelist Kingdom and Battle City Yami was supposed to have felt guilty for deceiving everyone and he spoke to his father about what he'd been doing.

Yami's pretend-father had been enraged and threw his son out. Yami's grandfather then suggested that Yami go live with Yugi and Solomon in Japan for a while.

And so that was how Yami was supposed to have gotten to Domino.

The students had gone into a frenzy about that and many of them squealed to the media which caused a whole circus to break out over how the Duelist Hierarchy was being questioned and all sort of issues.

Yami had nearly blow his cover and mind-crushed every reporter that dared get near the high-school.

Luckily Yugi had been cool-headed enough to settle down his other-half, deal with the media, and defend his position as the number-two duelist in the world against all the 'duelist usurpers' that had popped up.

And all while still suffering from that magical anemia.

Yami had been completely in awe of Yugi then.

//All the gossipers will be disappointed when they find out he's just a simple exchange student in middle-school// Yami said pulling himself out of his memories.

/Oh I don't know. Once Nero says that he's my koi I have a feeling the gossip-wheel will be quite happy/ Yugi said in a none to happy way.

//Don't you. . .want people to know Nero is yours?// Yami asked cautiously. The ex-pharaoh wasn't sure how he felt about Yugi's reluctance. All he knew was the for some odd reason his heart had picked up speed and was now beating like it wanted to come out of his chest.

/Oh it's not really that. . .It's the whole gay thing. I mean. . . Well I'm not gay, I'm bi. I had a crush on Tea for a while until I realized I liked her more as a friend or a sister than a girlfriend/ Yugi admitted.

//Ah// Yami answered supportively.

/I mean, my sexual bend doesn't bother you. You lived in a time that didn't have well . . . rules against male-male relationships. But other people aren't as understanding./

//Are you perhaps talking about Joey, hikari// Yami questioned outright.

/. . . I'm not freaking out about Joey if that's what you mean. Worried about how he's processing all of this, maybe, but not freaking out. . . I'm . . . worried about some OTHER people's reactions/

Yami wasn't sure what Yugi meant. Who would the hikari have to be scared of.

That was when he noticed that some of the students in class were crowding around Nizuki or Nero and where in fact, casting disgusted looks over at his younger-half.

//Aibou-//

/Ignore them. Until they actually DO something, there is nothing we can do/ Yugi said simply.

'We'. There is nothing 'we' can do about it. Yami liked that Yugi was trusting him with his problems again, though probably unconsciously.

But then Yami realized something that made that trust not so great.

'_I'm always so busy with Tea that I won't have any time to look after Yugi. I want to help my aibou but . . .I can't neglect my girlfriend.'_

Just then the classroom door crashed open (a poor karma-cursed student actually managed to get nailed in the back of the head with the door and smacked into the wall face-first in a spectacular explosion of snot and blood) and Councilor Harrison marched into the room like an invading army into a defenseless town.

"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?"

The teacher snorted and roused herself out of her nap to look wildly around the room. When she noticed that there were more people in her classroom then there should be she almost swallowed her own tongue in shock.

"W-who are these people?'

As if some drill had been initiated all the students in the class ran back to their desk and sat down, their hands on the table-tops and their back's straight.

Even Joey and Honda were doing their best to look like good Japanese youths.

"I repeat, what is going on in here?" Councilor Harrison repeated, his neck going from a slightly reddish hue to deep purple.

For all those who went to Domino High, the color change was a sure signal to watch up. Harrison was dangerous when red and just plain murderous when purple.

"Hello!" Nero chirped brightly. Nizuki nodded politely to the councilor as well.

Ryou and Yugi shared absolutely panic-ridden looks.

"Sorry we didn't come to office yet, but I wanted to say hi to Yugi-sama! Ummm. . .we're here to um. . .we need um. . ." Nero stumbled over his words. Surprisingly it wasn't out of fear but rather simple confusion.

"We need visitor passes to be here right? We weren't sure how to go about getting those so we were going to try going to the front office but no one was there to help us so we decided to try and hijack Yugi or my cousin from class and see if they couldn't help us," Nizuki shrugged cool as can be.

"No one was at the front office?" Harrison blinked in shock. "How can that be? No one has mentioned to me that we are under-staffed."

"Oh yes! There were people there but they was so busy with all the students who had been stuck outside big school-gate to help us. We waited and waited and waited but they all too busy!" Nero chirped again.

The councilor snorted like an irritated ox. Obviously he was annoyed that the other administrators weren't as proficient as he was when dealing with slacker students.

"Some poor students looked like they would cry. One girl in front of us in line had her leg all cut up from here," Nero put a finger on his ankle, "all the way up to here," the angel's fingers dragged their way up to his hips.

"Yes, I remember her. She was telling the lady at the desk that she had gotten into a little accident on her bike on her way to school and that's why she was late," Nizuki nodded. "Though personally I think the girl should have been in a hospital, she was oozing blood on the carpet."

"And another boy was trying to explain how he has to take his sister to kindergarten every morning and that he can't ever get to the bus on time to get to Domino before the gate closes," Nero continued.

For once, much to everyone's surprise, Councilor Harrison looked a little ashamed and embarrassed of both himself and his policies.

Then again, Nero was so sweet and his voice so very emotional that it made even the icy-hearted Kaiba look up from his lab top to listen.

Nizuki's words where no less penetrating, though there was something stranger about her voice. It was like she was saying the words with once voice and underneath that she was saying something stronger, like words that anyone would know. . .and yet didn't.

Ryou gasped almost inaudibly in shock. Yugi still managed to hear it and he looked over at his fellow hikari.

Ryou just chocked and gagged and pointed his finger at Nizuki.

Yugi looked at the taller angel again and nearly started gagging himself.

Nizuki's fingers were making busy little motions beside her hip and every time they moved a golden glow not unlike sunlight seemed to pour off her digit and float over to the councilor.

Yugi and Ryou were clueless as to the intricacies of it but they knew the angel was casting some sort of spell.

Nero wasn't, but then again being as sweet as he was using magic would just be overkill.

"Perhaps. . .I've been a little too rigid about this whole fencing thing. There are bound to be transit problems in a city as large as ours. . ." Councilor Harrison glared at the two hikaris after he said this, pointedly explaining with his gaze that the two boys were still expected to go to detention.

"However you two DID trespass on school property and that cannot be ignored."

Nero whimpered timidly and Yugi nearly jumped out of his seat to go over and guard his angelic friend.

Nizuki grimaced and surprisingly shot a dirty look out the window, rather than at the councilor.

"I will personally escort you two off of campus and- YOUNG LADY WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING!"

Nizuki had completely the man who had been motioning for the angels to come to him and went over to the window.

She pulled out her sunlight bottle, uncorked it and splashed some of the liquid into the tree.

A cat, with green-eyes that Yugi had remembered seeing in the park hissed and darted out of the tree.

"Sorry sir, that thing looked like it had rabies," Nizuki said tucking her bottle neatly away into her leather biker-girl jacket and walking back over to the older man. "I didn't want anyone to get attacked."

Councilor Harrison looked surprisingly understanding. Very unlike the unrelenting ball-buster he was known to be.

"Well thank you for that. Now both of you come to my office so I can give you a good lecture about proper visitor behavior."

"Yes sir," both Nero and Nizuki said in time.

/Nero. . .be careful okay?/

:/Yugi-sama, too much worrier. I see there is a big softie in councilor-man that just wants to come out. I sense that he is just clouded by lots of bad demonic visions that take away his belief in students! Nizuki is super good at dusting away such clouds and I'm good at getting on people's good-side after clouds are gone!/:

/Demonic visions. . . that cat. . . Nero are you sure-/

:/This is a no-biggie problem, Yugi-sama. This happens lots to all peoples no matter what! Nizuki and I will handle it and then Yugi-sama and I will get to hang out more!!!/:

Yugi wasn't so sure. He felt that there had to be something bigger going on but he simply nodded and let the little angel go.

QQQQQ Elsewhere QQQQQQQ

"You got caught didn't you?" a masculine voice snickered as he watched the green-eyed cat morph into the shape of a young woman.

The obviously Hispanic young lady glared at the speaker so harshly her pupils flashed scarlet.

"_Cállese, estúpido! Hágale quiere la lengua arrancó?"_(1) she snapped in bitter Spanish.

"Someone is rather testy," the man's voice chuckled.

"Only because that _insufrible_ _ramera_ (2) that they dare call an angel splashed me with her _estúpido estrella-jugo (3)_! She could have scalded me!" the emerald-eyed dame explained.

"Yes, that would foul one's mood wouldn't it," the male said thoughtfully. "But hopefully she did not run you off before you were able to plant your seeds."

"Do not underestimate me, _mi oscuro amor (4)_," the woman laughed, flipping her raven black hair over her bronze shoulder proudly. "Everything you suggested has been placed."

"Good. I didn't really expect anything less from someone with as much drive as you. After all, it is only because you so will it that I strategize so."

"Yes, because you are my _contratado_ _esclavo, mi muy caliente contratado esclavo(5)."_

"The one you bought to obtain the ultimate glory," the man agreed.

The woman smiled in satisfaction then sighed and stretched. "All this work has tired me out. I'm going to take a bath and go to bed. You monitor our _tapie ojos(6) _while I sleep."

"Of course, my mistress."

"Good boy."

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

Shut up, stupid! Do you want your tongue ripped out?

Insufferable bitch

Stupid star-juice

My dark love

Contracted slave, my very hot contracted slave

Wall eyes

Masaka: AHHHH! I am starting to hate this whole Spanglish thing!!

Yami Masaka: Why?

Masaka: Because I have to stop in the middle of writing to look up all the phrases then I have to cut and paste and then go back and look up new words then cut and paste again and GAAAHH!!

Yami Masaka: Well I think it adds personality

Masaka: That it does… sigh . . .It took me quite a while to work this chapter out and I still think it sucks

Yami Masaka: You can always come back and re-write it if you want

Masaka: True, true. . .but I wanted more. . . I don't know more. . . Nero-ness

Yami Masaka: The day isn't over. You can have Nero come out during lunch!

Masaka: But what about the detention

Yami Masaka: It's after-school detention, hikari

Masaka: Oh yaaaaah

Yami Masaka: Sheesh, you are so absent-minded

Masaka: And you are just one iota away from being yanked out of my brain by some industrial strength, shrink prescribed pills!

Yami Masaka: YOU WOULDN'T!!

Masaka: I might if you don't stop nagging me all the time! Especially about Jason

Yami Masaka: THAT DOG IS EVIL!!!

Masaka: IS NOT!!

Yami Masaka: IS TOO!! . . . You wouldn't really send me away would you?

Masaka: . . .looks thoughtful. . .No I guess not

Yami Masaka: YAAAY!! . . .glomps Masaka. . .

Yami Masaka: No fan-service until we start getting requests!!

Masaka: By the way, there is a 'character death' that was previously in the title, before I realized I had downloaded the wrong version of this chapter. In fact there still is a character death.

Poor, poor little Student 3.

He was a minor character, with no dialouge and not great looks but he always did his best to add numbers to the classroom crowds.

May you rest in peace poor student 3


	18. Hey! Whose the liscensed angel here?

Masaka: Wow, everyone wants to know who Nizuki's mysterious 'idiot' protectorate was.

Yami Masaka: WELL YOU'LL NEVER GUESS SUCKERS!! NYAH-NYAH!! I KNOW SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW!! I KNOW SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW!! IT'S THE BEST PLOT EVVVVVVER!!!

Masaka: Err. . .thanks yami . . .I think **sweatdrop** Um well anyway. The idiot isn't going to show up for a while. And well. . .there will be a lot of characters popping up and Nero's role might get smaller so um. . .well hang on and bear with me because this story is entering a gray area

Yami Masaka: AND IF I HEAR ONE COMPLAINT ABOUT IT, I WILL SOOOOO TURN YOU INSIDE YOU!!!

Masaka: Okay that is it, no more coffee for you!

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

After Nero and Nizuki were taken to the principal's office, the class really started to get into gear.

The teacher downed a couple of cups of coffee from the teacher's lounge and began her somewhat understandable explanation about English adjectives.

Ryou, since he already spoke English fluently, decided now was as good a time as any to work on some forgotten homework (the kid DID have more pressing matters on his mind then math problems after all) while Yugi, who had also learned English fluently from all his time with Rebecca, doodled on his notebook.

Without really thinking about it Yugi managed to make a decent doodle of the eyes that had been in the tree and the cat as well.

'_There is something about those eyes . . . they were so dark. . .like Yami's eyes were before he and I came to an understanding. . .I'm so very afraid of those eyes,' _Yugi thought to himself.

Deciding that this train of thought was a little too scary, Yugi turned his attention to a pastime that was much more fulfilling, people-watching.

His large plum-colored eyes scanned around the classroom, catching on the faces of those he knew.

Otogi was sitting near the front of the class taking dedicated notes while twirling one ebony strand of his hair around his index finger.

Around him the girls took turns writing and looking at the dice-king and sighing with love.

Situated relatively in the middle of the room sat Joey. The blonde was obviously trying very hard to take notes but he kept shooting glances back at his arch-rival Seto, managing to distract himself entirely from the lecture.

Joey would just stare at the other man for a while in a daze, then realized what he was doing, turned bone-white with a flush of green and went back to his note-taking with vigor.

Apparently the blonde was having some issues. Yugi wondered what they were before turning his eyes to the others in the classroom (1).

In the back, looking even more bored than Ryou and himself combined, sat Seto Kaiba. He had his lab-top on his desk and was typing on it with a practiced finesse while looking through some papers in a folder at his side not even pretending to listen to the lecture.

At first Yugi thought Seto was completely consumed with this work, but as he looked longer Yugi noticed the CEO's eyes would shoot glances up at Joey for less than a second then he would scowl and go back to his papers.

Um. . .Yugi had a feeling he was missing something (2).

To Joey's left, close to the door sat Honda. The brunette was looking even more lost than his friend, scribbling frantically at his notebook while shooting harassed looks at the teacher.

Occasionally the uno-spiked youth would stare at the chalkboard to try and understand the examples on the board but every time he looked at it for more than a few minutes his eyes would glaze over and a small confused whimper would escape his throat.

Honda really needed to get a tutor; he was falling behind JOEY in class-rank.

Yugi's eyes slid over the menagerie of other students that he only knew because they shared a class.

Most all of them were paying attention and actively asking questions . . . except one guy who looked too smug for a teenager.

Yugi knew this particular teenager from reputation only. His name was Shogi Hayashi.

The boy was no where near as adored as Otogi or Yami or even Seto (A/N: And Seto only avoided stalker fans because of his threatening personal aura) but he was still pretty influential in Domino High.

He was handsome in a very typical Japanese youth way, and had a whole resume of talents including soccer, basketball, kendo, martial arts, bench-pressing, being student body president, being a top drama student, being an excellent student, being rich and being the one guy you didn't want to get ticked off.

In the absence of the great bullies like Ushio, Sozoji, or Goro Inogashira, the slightly less physically imposing Shogi had taken power.

The guy was smart enough to never go for the direct-confrontation and instead controlled everything through a series of thugs and a network of gossip-spreaders.

Today, Yugi noticed, Shogi seemed to be a lot more at peace with his surroundings then he normally was.

Usually Shogi would be constantly looking about him in a paranoid type of way, but today he oozed utter confidence.

Somehow Yugi didn't like the change.

Taking his eyes off the devil's little playmate, Yugi turned his gaze to his once best gal-friend, Tea Gardener.

The would-be dancer wasn't paying attention to the lecture either. Instead Tea was methodically applying her makeup, absolutely enthralled with her own reflection in her little compact-mirror.

Among the seemingly endless tubes and tubs and jars on the dancer's desk was one bottle that Yugi was pretty sure he'd never seen featured in any Egg magazine (3).

It was a relatively small bottle. It was made of glass and seemed to be either deep red or black, Yugi wasn't quite sure from this angle.

Unlike most perfume bottles (which Yugi was assuming this bottle was) this bottle wasn't designed to be alluring. In fact the thing had spines all over it.

Tea didn't seemed bothered by the sinister appearance of her fragrance because every few minutes or so between dabs of rouge or swipes of lipstick she'd pluck up the bottle and get herself a decent sized sprits.

Yugi flinched in disgust at the thought of so many chemicals filling the air he had to breathe and then turned his eyes to his favorite classmate.

Yami was completely focused on his note-taking, as Yugi knew he would be. Of all Yami's faults, sloth was not one of them.

Sure Yami had the tendency to let his girlfriend pull him away from his studies, but when the girl wasn't around Yami was a very determined student.

It was only because of Yami's example and his own lack of anything better to do due to isolation from his friends that Yugi put any effort at all into his own schoolwork.

It wasn't as though Yugi was lazy or confused like his pals Joey and Honda. The opposite was true, Yugi was surprisingly bright.

Yugi just didn't like studying, so his own intelligence didn't get him very far.

But Yami was a different story. Yami was grateful for his chance to further his understanding about the world around him. In particular Yami was besotted with history.

While Yugi was hard pressed to take interest in the subject because he already felt he'd experienced enough history to last a lifetime, Yami was hard pressed to be removed from the history class.

One of the first things the ex-pharaoh had done when he had returned to the present-time was to buy himself a complete set of the Encyclopedia Britannica and start reading about everything that had happened after the fall of Egypt.

Nothing pleased the ex-pharaoh more than to learn something new about the time he'd missed while sleeping in his puzzle.

Ryou had mentioned that Bakura was the same way, digesting every history book that the boy's father had left in his study.

When Ryo, Ryou's father, came back from trips the man was always prepared to fork over all his notes to the dark-half of his son.

Ryou figured it was because Bakura liked reading these notes so much that Bakura had never threatened Ryo like he constantly threatened his hikari.

This made the times Ryo came home ever more precious to Ryou than usual (3).

Looking at him sitting at his neck, the older teen's tongue between his teeth in concentration, Yugi couldn't help but feel a sense of contentment.

It was this deceptively average side of the Yu-Gi-Oh that made Yugi's heart go 'pitter-pat, pitter-pat.'

Yugi loved the full and complete personality of Yami- Atemu.

As if feeling Yugi's eyes upon him, Yami looked up from his notes and over at Yugi.

//Is something wrong, aibou?// Yami asked curiously.

Yugi blushed in embarrassment. /O-Oh it's nothing I was just um. . .people-watching/

//Why exactly are you doing that?// Yami's mental-voice chuckled.

/I'm bored. I know English better than the British do. And don't forget Grandpa taught me French and German as well. Foreign language classes bore me to tears./

//Really? I've never heard you speaking in anything but Japanese// Yami said in apparent surprise.

/_Je n'aime pas me vanter de mes talents/_ Yugi answered with a perfect accent.

//Did you just. . .tell me you don't like to brag?// Yami blinked in shock.

/You know that the mind-link can make sense of any utterance in any language; what do you think I said/ Yugi giggled.

// I think you just said you don't like to brag about your talents// Yami smiled back.

/Correct/ Yugi nodded.

//I'm impressed Yugi. I didn't know you were so linguistically talented// Yami chuckled again.

/Well my grandfather was a famous world-traveler when he was young, and even though you never met her my grandmother was quite the intellectual woman, and then my father . . ./ Yugi's voice tampered off into silence.

Yami tilted his head curiously. His other-half very rarely, if ever, talked about his parents.

Since the time of the puzzle, Yami had been aware that something had happened to his host's parents that caused the youth great anguish and fueled his lack of self-worth.

The exact details of what had happened to them, Yami still didn't know. And the dark one had tried a lot of tricks to get even the tiniest hints.

//What about your father, Yugi?// Yami encouraged.

A false wave of levity flooded through the link as Yugi tried to brush it off with a smile.

/Never mind, I think you get the point that I have been coached pretty well on how to speak different languages/

Yami suppressed a wave of annoyance from his side of the link. He was getting really sick and tired of Yugi's secrecy.

Like the way Yugi had refused to talk about the dark patch of feelings that had appeared in the boy's soul during Yami's absence.

THAT particular bit of information Yami REALLY wanted to have. The pain his other-half had stored up in his soul-room was so malignant and dark that it had transformed Yugi's soul-room from one of complete childish innocence to a room divided between a sea of black and an island of white.

Yami didn't believe that Yugi could have developed such darkness just out of simple teenage angst. There was something way too severe about the change.

//Yugi . . . // Yami tired to ask. He only got as far as saying his partner's name before chickening out. // Will Nero be joining you at lunch?//

Yami wanted to whack his head against something. He was so weak. Particularly when it came to matters concerning his hikari. So damn weak.

/I'm pretty darn sure. Nero isn't the type to be satisfied with a simple hug/ Yugi said with extreme warmth. /He's like a child, always demanding more and more affection until he brings out feelings within a person that they never knew they had. I pity Councilor Harrison right now, no doubt he is getting the sweetness treatment of a life-time/

A spike of jealousy nailed Yami right in the gut causing the ex-spirit to snap his pen in half. Luckily the resulting explosion of ink was so disastrous that Yugi forgot to question the emotion.

INTHELAIROFHARRISONWHEREALLADOLESCENTSFEARTOTREADANDANGELSTIPTOELIGHTLY

Nizuki had always thought of herself as a pretty talented people-person. She just had to sit-down with an individual for a few hours and the person in question walked away with a whole new outlook in life.

But looking at how Nero worked Councilor Harrison over so well, Nizuki felt like a novice.

Nero had found a picture of a little girl hidden underneath the many threatening disciplinary posters on the walls and had instantly identified her as Harrison's niece.

Surprisingly the big-bad disciplinarian had a soft-spot for his niece that stretched out farther than the Grand Canyon.

Nero have dived at that soft-soft like a hawk on a salmon and in record-time had convinced Harrison to step his tactics down a notch so that the girl would 'have an uncle she could be proud of, not terrified of.'

And only a small time after that Nero had managed to secure a place in Harrison's good-graces, all but insuring his continued presence on campus.

"Really you and Machiko would get along so well. You are both such sweet children," Harrison said with tears, yes actual tears, in his eyes.

"I'm sure! I bet she has a strong just heart like her uncle!" Nero smiled warmly.

Nizuki tried not to twitch in shock. She was beyond blown-away. She was back in heaven. She could practically see Great Master Nakagato at her side, knuckling his eyes and giving Nero a double-take muttering under his breath about how much Nero had improved since he'd run away.

"Y-You really think so? OH! I really have to get you two together!! I can arrange an _omiai_ (4) for you two when you turn eighteen-years-old!!"

THAT got Nizuki's attention.

"_Okay this is getting WAY ridiculous!"_ the female-angel though, pushing herself off from the wall and walking over to Nero's side.

"Um sir? It's about lunchtime and I was hoping-" Nizuki began to request.

"What?" Harrison said blinking himself out of his 'Nero-daze', as Nizuki dubbed it, "Oh! Oh yes. Right, yes, of course, lunch. Very well Miss Bakura you and your . . . Nero may go attend lunch with the students. But remember, you are always to report to me first whenever you wish to visit the campus. There are regulations that you have to meet after all."

"Of course sir, we'll know better next time," Nizuki said bowing respectfully shepherding Nero out the office door.

Councilor Harrison seemed to be fine once Nero was moved out of the way. That was a good sign that the man wouldn't suffer any angelic cuteness withdrawal symptoms . . . which Nizuki was pretty dang sure Nero COULD cause.

Once Councilor Harrison went back to his paperwork Nizuki closed the office door and let out a heavy sigh.

"I think I didn't pretty well, huh Nizuki-nee?" Nero smiled cheerfully.

"If I liquidized you and dripped you into the water-system I could control all of Domino," Nizuki said lightly.

"Huh?" Nero blinked in surprise. Nizuki shook her head weakly then shot her companion a grin.

"You were amazing Nero. I'm not even kidding this time; you are so ready to pass the guardianship test back in Heaven."

Nero flushed and shuffled his feet anxiously. "I . . . well . . . I not in any hurry to leave."

Nizuki's grin of amusement faded into something a little more like empathy and half-worried happiness.

"I know Nero. And you shouldn't hurry . . . the ties angels make with humans . . . have to be loosened very slowly . . . for everyone's sake."

Nero looked at Nizuki in confusion but the strawberry blonde was already strolling down the hall, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her jacket.

"Nizuki-nee, what should I do during lunch with Yugi-sama?" Nero asked, completely turning away from the unspoken subject that was obviously causing his friend pain.

"You should snuggle and cuddle and act as nauseatingly lovey-dovey as possible," Nizuki answered point-blank. "If you can sneak in a little smooching as well that would be great."

Nero's face went into shades of fushia faster than you could turn on a light.

"S-s-s-s-m-s-s-s-smooo-s-s-s-smooching?" Nero bumbled.

"Yah! I mean, not French-kissing or even suck-the-other-person's-lips-off kissing, but you know . . . first crush peck on the lips smooching. You've watched human television; you should know what I'm talking about."

"N-Nero knows what Nizuki-nee is t-talking about. . ." Nero stammered.

Nizuki looked over her shoulder at her little partner in love-crimes and cocked a suspicious eyebrow.

"Me thinks the cupid doth protest too much."

"I-I not p-prot-testing," Nero gulped. "J-Just . . . a-angels are chaste! You should think of other tactic."

"A kiss is an expression of greeting and affection and trust and understanding that spans back to the days of the prophets. A kiss is nothing to be ashamed of or avoided . . . Now a tongue-fest of lusty proportions is a different matter entirely but again, I told you that a drool-fest is too much."

"O-Okay," Nero nodded his head sternly.

Nizuki smiled wickedly and wagged her eyebrows. "Hey if you can't do it, I will. I know I'm just a means to an end and I am not at all the type to object to a free kiss."

"NERO WILL DO IT!!" Nero yelped in concern. He knew Nizuki wouldn't really do anything inappropriate but well . . . Nizuki could also be too clinical about kissing and he didn't want to subject Yugi to that.

If Yugi had to be kissed by any angels to get his wish granted, the angel Nero preferred to be the one puckering up was him.

ANDNOWBACKTOTHEOTHERTEENAGERSWHOAREALLINSANELYREADYFORLUNCHTOSTART

Yugi, Ryou and the gang (not including Seto because the CEO would rather choke down his own vomit then be caught eating with Yugi-tachi) headed outside to sit under the trees in the school-yard.

Because of their collective fame and charm the lunchroom was really a hard place to sit in. There were too many girls just stacked on top of one another, ready to leap at any unprepared bishonen.

And beside there were only a few more weeks left that the gang could sit under the trees before it got too cold.

In the circle of his friends, Yugi felt deceptively at peace. He felt like there was nothing wrong with his life.

Once lunch was over though, he and his friends would part ways until tomorrow, if then.

"Oh Joey that is so gross; you put spaghetti and meatballs inside a sandwich," Tea blanched from her place around Yami's arm.

The blonde in question snorted and raised the said sandwich to his lips. "As a matter a fact I did put spaghetti into ma sandwich. It tastes good."

"It looks hideous!!" Tea squeaked.

"Then look at somethin' else," Joey said before stuffing half the eatable into his mouth.

Honda roared with laughter at the utter look of disgust on Tea's face and dug into his own meal.

"Where are those two?" Ryou whispered half to himself, half to the group as he scanned the yard for the two angelic beings.

"Don't worry so much about those two," Otogi said peacefully. "I get the feeling that they can take care of themselves pretty well."

"Oh that's not what I'm worried about," Ryou said still searching.

"Ya, it's what they take care of that can be a problem," Yugi grimaced.

"I'm sure Nero will show up soon enough," Yami said with begrudging support.

"YUGI-SAMA!" Nero squealed, appearing pretty much out of nowhere to tackle his way into Yugi's lap.

"WHAT THE-" the surrounding teenagers yelped.

Nizuki, more traditionally, strolled up from behind the school. "Hey all."

"Where did- when did- how did- who did- well hello Mr. Glomp Attacker," Joey stumbled over his words.

Yugi was caught between melting to pieces because of the purring Nero nuzzling into his chest and freaking out at the sudden assault on his person.

It only took about three seconds of looking at said attacker for Yugi to decide he didn't care.

"You are too cute!" Yugi whined, wrapping his arms around Nero and hugging back with a passion.

Nizuki watched this then quickly turned her eyes to Yami. The ex-pharaoh looked like he was about to commit a murder.

"Uh. . .not for nothin' Yug but um. . .ca-can ya not do that here?" Joey asked awkwardly, keeping his eyes off the couple like the image would burn his eyes out.

"O-Oh uh. . .sorry Joey," Yugi flushed with shame, loosing his grip on his adorable angel pal.

Nizuki wanted to smack Wheeler upside the head but settled for sitting down beside Ryou and making a snarky comment.

"I notice you aren't as grossed out by Tea and Yami's PDA, and they are pretty down and dirty," Nizuki snorted.

"Nizuki!" Ryou gasped at his guardian.

The strawberry blonde angel just shrugged and leaned against the tree. "What?"

"You shouldn't be so mean! Joey has . . . problems with homosexual couples and you don't-"

"I don't need to what? Rub it in his face that his views are paranoid and unkind? That he is obviously one of the masses of people that make alternative couples feel like the lepers of the 21st century? That he isn't as good a friend as he brags he is if he is willing to add friction to a relationship with a friend depending on who said friend chooses to engage in romantic relations with?" Nizuki rattled off more mercilessly than a machine-gun.

"Whoa, whoa, down girl. I think you should retract your claws a little before you gouge out someone's organs," Otogi laughed, holding his hands up passively.

"Well sorry, I just think it's stupid. There are so MANY stupid discriminations in the world and this ranks up there with the top five," Nizuki grumbled. "So much pain is caused by the stupidest little slips of the tongue

. . . so much irreparable damage."

"Wow, you sound like you know this kind of stuff from personal experience. Are you a councilor or something?" Honda blinked in shock.

"I'm in the business of saving people," Nizuki admitted with a grin.

\Nizuki-chan . . .are you sure you're alright? You seem a little. . . you know more 'grr' than usual\ Ryou tried to ask as plainly as he could.

:\Nero just reminded me of something particularly unflattering my past on the way out here and I guess it ruffled my feathers a little. . .that and I really DO this prejudice and bigotry and stupid\:

\What did he remind you of?\

:\. . .Failure. . .\:

The deathly seriousness of his angel's voice caused a shudder to roll down Ryou's spine.

Before the white-haired hikari had any time to brood over that declaration, however, Nero decided to step up his make-Yami-jealous act.

"Can I feed Yugi-sama lunch? I need more practice with my chopsticks," Nero blurted.

Nobody, not even Nizuki, was sure if that was supposed to be a come-on or not. Nero was too innocent and cute and naïve to really dish out come-ons but . . . feeding Yugi to practice with chopsticks.

"U-uh I g-guess that would be okay," Yugi blushed, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

Yami snarled like a shadow realm monster and ruthlessly crushed the onigiri he had been holding. Appropriately the boys(but not Tea) all took a precautionary scoot backwards.

Just because they had gotten used to hanging out with Yami didn't mean they didn't remember how um

. . . aggressive he could get at times.

(A/N: **Yami Masaka**: Phish yah, like a rabid gorilla hopped up on caffeine and steroids **Masaka: sweatdrops** Um…does it say something about my metal state that my yami is well. . .like this  
**Yami Masaka: **MWAHAHAHAHAHAH)

"I packed lots of good stuff in Yugi-sama's lunch-box," Nero said pulling out the bento from Yugi's backpack and opening it up.

Inside of it was more delicious looking cuisine then Yugi-tachi had seen in a very long time. Not to say that all of it looked like it should have been in a typical lunch, but it all looked delicious.

"Nero wasn't sure what to put in a lunch, so I put in lots of stuff," Nero smiled innocently.

"Well I'm certainly not complaining," Yugi said trying not to drool inappropriately.

Nero and pulled out the chopsticks. "Okay Yugi-sama, what do you want to start with?"

"Um I guess the um. . .noodles?" Yugi shrugged. Nero nodded and plucked up a dozen or so noodles.

"Okay now say awwwww," Nero instructed.

"Awwwww," Yugi repeated. Nero plopped the noodles right on Yugi's tongue.

Yami's eyes flickered from normal garnet to something more like molten lava.

The guys took another large scoot backwards.

"Sugoi! That's really good!" Yugi gasped.

"Is it?" Nero grinned.

"Definitely the best thing I've eaten in a long time," Yugi agreed.

"Doesn't look that great to me," Yami said tersely as he began nibbling on his own lunch.

"Yah, really. Who puts spaghetti in a bento anyway," Tea agreed.

Nero looked like he was about to burst into tears, but Yugi inadvertently stopped that by putting his hand over Nero's on the chopsticks and guiding another morsel of food up to his mouth.

Yami banished the rest of his lunch to the shadow-realm in rage and decided he had better just grab his girlfriend and go before he really lost it.

Otogi, Honda, Joey, Nizuki and Ryou all watched him go in varying degrees of shock and amusement.

For once Yugi didn't mind his other-half walking away. But then again if you had a cute boy like Nero in your lap and a tasty lunch, would you mind?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Masaka: Okay, I was reading all my reviews and I just have to say **sniffles dramatically** THAT ALL MY REVIEWERS ARE THE BEST!!! I can't believe how NICE you all are and how NICE you are towards the fact that I have Original Characters in my story and how NICE-

Yami Masaka: They get it hikari, they get it! And why are you so hard on original characters? As long as they aren't Mary-Sue or. . .whatever you call a sappy original guy character, no one cares whether the character was in the series or not. You make sure that Yugi and Yami and Ryou and all the others are in the lime-light more often the not and you have no problems

Masaka: I guess. . . Well anyway, I just wanted to say that all you reviewers are my best ego-boost! I just have to read my reviews and I get as happy as a kid on a sugar-rush

Yami Masaka: Or Nizuki when she gets to play dress-up with hikaris **grins inappropriately**

Masaka: GACK!! Oh crud, not again I have to reload this chapter because I forgot the stupid numbers.

**Sigh** okay people hang on and let me work

1.) If you can't get where I'm going with this I will give you a one word hint: Nile, Joey is swimmin' in it

2.) Seto is having the same issues and he will continue to have those issues in the sequel

3.) Okay unless you are a serious freak like me and not only have access to JSTOR but also like reading all the very technical articles in it and/or actually know people in Japan, you probably won't know what Egg is.

It's a magazine more or less completely made for the Gal culture. And I mean Gal like in the series Super Gals. This has everything girl-powered and I am assuming it has cosmetic and fashion tips because it seems every girl magazine does

4.) Again, shame, shame, shame on people who don't get this. An omiai is a date with the intention of marriage. It's kind of complication and I'm too lazy to explain it.

Masaka: OKAY!! Now everything is updated WOO-HOO!!!


	19. I know what you need, even if you don't

Masaka: I will now proceed to do something very dumb! While working on a three-page report on the British Invasion of Egypt I will also try to work on the next chapter of Heavenly Interventions! Love me all!!

Yami Masaka: I worry about you hikari. . .I seriously, seriously worry

Jason: woof

Yami Masaka: ACK!! DAMN YOU DOG!! **Chases the surprisingly fast mutt out of the author's notes**

Masaka: YAMI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY DOG!!! COME BACK!! YAMI!!!

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

Taking into considering the fact that what happened at lunch hadn't vexed Nizuki, Ryou got the feeling what the angel was going to show him after-school was going to be equally tense.

Ryou was prepared for anything, for back-alleys that lead to nowhere, for a pole-dancing parlor in the red-light district...

What Ryou wasn't prepared for was Chung Fau's Discount Defense Studio, which was exactly where Nizuki took him.

"W-what's this?" Ryou asked.

The building looked so plain and undistinguishable that Ryou was having trouble believing this was really where Nizuki wanted to take him. It was a concrete square of a building nestled between a grocery store and a cheap discount boutique.

The studio's name was written in cursive neon lights above the door that flickered and buzzed ominously. There were no real windows to see inside either. There was just a huge mural of a Chinese dragon etched across the front, even overlapping the door.

This place just seemed to. . .ordinary a place for Nizuki to suggest. Nizuki's whole demeanor just demanded something extra special. . .So what were they doing here?

"This place is the first step in your journey towards happiness," Nizuki said casually.

". . .A discount self-defense course?" Ryou stared on in confusion.

Nizuki gave him an annoyed glance and clucked her tongue against her teeth. "Don't be so judgmental. Sure it looks cheap but trust me, I checked out all the dojos in the area, and this is the ONLY one that won't make you feel like a stupid weakling for joining in your teens."

Ryou looked at Nizuki skeptically then looked back at the building. "Ooookay. . .but what are we doing here?"

Nizuki sighed and shook her head warily causing her hair to cascade down into her face for a moment.

She pushed the hair out of her face with one hand and locked eyes with Ryou.

"_I wish he didn't beat me up all the time. I wish I was stronger. I wish I could keep him from using me like he does," _Nizuki said plainly. "These are the things you've begged for on bended knee haven't you? A way for you to come out of your darker-half's shadow? A way for you to feel like perhaps, you are more than just the poor sap stuck taking care of a once completely deranged ancient tomb-robber?"

Ryou flushed awkwardly and looked down at his feet. "W-well maybe I. . .maybe I did wish for that. . .but I guess I thought. . . that with you here I could-"

"I'm here to help you help yourself, Ryou," Nizuki said smiling matronly at her charge. "I want you to be able to walk with your chin up, ready to strike down any jerk who thinks he can pull you down just because he's stronger. . . Besides I know that you are suffering from pains in your arm that keep you from painting like you like to. . .and that make you wake up in the middle of the night in pain."

"I-I didn't think you-"

"You didn't think I would notice?" Nizuki finished for her protectorate with her normal fierce tiger grin. "Ryou-honey, I am the Flame of the All-Mighty able to stand here with you while at the same time looking over the Grand Canyon. There is NOTHING I can't notice."

Ryou's face was painfully red by now. Nizuki noticed and gently ran her hand down Ryou's cheek. Her touch was soft and gentle, much like the touch of a mother's hand.

"I'm here to be the one thing you need most," the blonde explained. "That means I will notice everything that has any importance to you."

Ryou grinned weakly back and nodded. "Well. . . o-okay but I hope you know it will take a lot of needling from you to keep me in here. I don't like physical stuff."

"Deal," Nizuki winked. "Now come in with me and I'll introduce you to the gym's owner.

They went in. They met the owner, all ten towering feet of him. And Ryou all but ran for the door.

This was going to take some time to get used to.

LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA

On the other side of town, still in the school-building in fact, sat Yugi and the Ryou-imposter called Nero.

Because Nizuki had really wanted to get Ryou's angelic training thing underway, without having to wait for the detention to be over, Nizuki had disguised Nero and sent the cherub in her protectorate's place.

Yugi didn't think this was particularly fair but when he had said such Nizuki had given him a very fiery glare that made detention seem not so bad in comparison.

"_I am the Prince of Games, supposed teacher and inspiration of the King of Games, who has saved the world from evils the likes of which Hollywood could never capture and have had my picture slapped on t-shirts and merchandise which is being sold in countries I don't know exist even as I sit here. . . and yet I have to go through detention just like everyone else. . . There is something very humbling and yet totally unfair about that," _Yugi thought to himself as he counted the number of spit-balls on the ceiling.

Beside him Nero looked about as content as could be. He was sitting in his chair, happily tapping his shoes together looking for all the world as if he was in his favorite place in the world. He even looked amused at all the crude pen drawings on the desktop in front of him.

Yugi envied him his joyfulness. Despite what most people thought Yugi wasn't anywhere near as happy-go-luck as the little angel was and he had the scars to prove it.

"_I wonder if that's what being born and raised in Heaven does to a soul, makes them content," _Yugi speculated. _"Or maybe its because as an angel Nero knows his place better than a human would . . .or maybe I'm over-thinking things and Nero is just a easy-to-please type of person."_

Several minutes crawled past like hours then Councilor Harrison stood up from his desk, and dismissed them all.

You've never seen people leave a room so fast.

Yugi waited behind a few minutes to let the masses fight their way out the door then left as well, pulling Nero along behind him like a puppy-dog.

The moment they were out of sight of the classroom door, the disguise around Nero evaporated.

"Well that was fun," Yugi moaned, stretching his back leisurely like a cat.

"Yugi-sama is being sarcastic, huh," Nero grinned.

"Oh yah, absolutely," Yugi nodded vigorously in agreement. Nero shook his head warily and then began to skip down the pretty much deserted hallway.

"I don't see what Yugi-sama has to complain about. What else would Yugi-sama have been doing? Yami is going out with icky Tea tonight and Yugi-sama would have just been sitting at home alone."

"So being forced to sit in the most uncomfortable desks ever made for a half-hour without talking is better?" Yugi gagged.

"No. . .but it kept Yugi-sama's sadness away," Nero shrugged. Yugi twitched uncomfortably.

Was it really necessary that people (or angels) remind him of how depressed he was every few seconds?

"Well I could have just done something else at home," Yugi pouted.

It was then that they heard the music. It was very soft, almost inaudible.

At first it was just a series of thumps like the beat of a drum, a 'rum-thump' 'rum-thump-bum' that carried through the otherwise still air of the school.

As Yugi and Nero walked further down the hall the sound got louder and they could hear someone's voice singing along to the beat.

"_And all you wanted was somebody who ca-a-a-a-a-ared!"_

Then there was the sound of polite clapping.

"That was excellent Narutaki-san. Okay, was that the last participant . . .no one else . . .really? Okay then I guess we're all finished here, thank you everyone one the results will be posted tomorrow."

Yugi and Nero finally reached the source of the noise. It was the auditorium. There was a big poster slapped across the door that said 'KAREOKE CLUB AUDITIONS HERE 4:30-5:45 PM!!!'

A stream of people were walking out of the room all talking excitedly, laughing wildly or just singing contentedly.

A few minutes later a final pair of people came walking out of the classroom. They looked like they were in Yugi's grade or perhaps a year higher.

The girl of the pair had a very professional air about her. She had dirty blonde hair that seemed to be fighting a battle with itself to decide whether it should be brown or blond. She wore this bushy curly mess of hair in a tightly pulled ponytail that, as big as it was in girth, couldn't seem to hold in all the fly-away pieces of her hair.

She had hazel-eyes that seemed to be slightly magnified by her thick black plastic frame glasses. Her body-shape was somewhere between curvy and chubby and she was dressed in the girl's school-uniform. The uniform itself was pressed and starched to perfection with an honor-roll button on the jacket lapel.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum was the boy who stood beside her.

He was handsome in an easy-to-overlook-it type of way. His hair was cut in a way that was either strategically messy or unfairly naturally styled. It flopped over his head and face like a curtain of silk and was redder than any natural hair-color could be.

This boy's eyes were a gray-green color that looked sort of like moss or maybe silt-filled river water. Luckily they weren't anywhere near green enough to clash with his hair.

The boy was very tall and very lanky, kind of like Seto Kaiba, but only if Kaiba had the slouched posture and easy-grace of a person who got his muscles from his work instead of worked for muscle.

(A/N: Just to note. . . I LOVE THIS CHARACTER!! In my original write-ups he was a really good character, but I may be forced to make him a minor one **SOB! **But this decision is still being debated. He and Yugi are going to cause forty types of chaos to unleash upon Domino and hate every minute of it. Heheh though I don't think the same can be said for the fangirls. Anyway I just wanted to say that my list of OC bishonens has both Darrin and Atsushi. . . that's all)

The boy was obvious the music-lover and the girl was obviously the administrative force needed to move that passion along.

"Well what do you think Mits? We found anything good in this scrounge up?" the red-head asked his partner and he gently took down the poster.

The dirty-blonde shook her head and let out a groan. "I don't know Atsushi. They're fine I guess; it's just . . . none of them seem to have that . . . extra quality, you know?"

"Do I ever," the red-head moaned grumpily. "Man! This sucks! I was so sure our club would be a smash!"

"I guess no one wants to combine their hobby with something school-associated," Mitsuko shrugged.

"Stupid little punks. We are gonna teach our members how to sing so well that they will ALWAYS be getting the mic at parties!" Atsushi snorted like a proud bull.

"Easy boy, easy," the girl laughed in an almost calculated way. "Remember we are a very young club with a bare handful of members. It's not really surprising that no one showed up. They probably didn't even know we existed."

"Yah probably. . .damn it. Well okay, so we going to your house to decide on members?"

"Ha! Like we really need to 'decide' anything. All the candidates were mediocre at best but since we need the numbers I'm letting them all join."

"Yuck, even that screechy girl Marigold or whatever it was?" the red-head blanched.

"Even her. . .of course maybe we can have her practice a little further away from the others."

"Yah, with the volume turned to mute," Atsushi shuddered.

The two finished their discussion and walked out the door leaving Nero and Yugi behind completely unseen.

Curiously Yugi poked his head into the auditorium. On the stage was a microphone still set up with a music machine.

There was a table set up just a few feet away from the stage where the pair that just left must have sat. A pile of papers sat on the table stuffed in manila folders and others just scattered aimlessly over the tabletop.

"Ooooh is this where human peoples sing?" Nero asked, stars twinkling brilliantly in his eyes.

"Not many people Nero," Yugi said straightening up the papers on the desk for lack of anything better to do.

A stray piece of paper fell from the mass in Yugi's hands and drifted to Nero's feet.

The little angel bent down and picked it up. It was a sheet of lyrics.

". . . What is 'I'm With You', Yugi-sama?" Nero asked.

"What?" Yugi asked walking over to Nero and taking the paper from the cherub. He looked over the words and nodded his head in understanding, "Oh yah these are the words to 'Avril Lavigne's' song."

"Oh. . . most of angel songs have no words, just passion," Nero blinked curiously. "I only know a few songs because I have overheard people on their way up to Heaven singing them."

"Well this song isn't really the type you'd sing on the way to Heaven," Yugi laughed nervously.

"No? Why not?" Nero asked patiently.

"Well it's a . . . um it's a sad . . . song," Yugi squirmed uncomfortably.

Nero continued to stare at Yugi for a long moment with a surprisingly unreadable expression on his face before he finally said.

"Sing it to me."

"W-what?" Yugi blanched.

"Sing this song to me. I want to hear what kind of music you know," Nero said seriously.

"B-But I-I c-can't-"

"Yes you can," Nero giggled. "I can hear it in your talking voice. You have a great ability to sing. You're voice can go through the human scales very well. Please Yugi-sama. . .Please sing, I want to hear you and learn human music more."

As it has probably been explained before when Nero amped up the cuteness factor and requested something Yugi couldn't refuse him. It wasn't that Yugi didn't WANT to refuse Nero. Frankly Yugi wanted nothing more than to just go home and forget about even coming in here. . . but it was. . .just too. . . hard! Damn it Nero was even more powerful than Yugi in terms of cuteness power.

Yugi groaned miserably and walked up onto stage. Nero cheered and took a seat.

Yugi coughed and hummed slightly to himself trying to warm up his vocal-chords. He wasn't a big singer but he knew that if he started singing without at least trying to get his throat ready he would be croaking for the next day and a half.

"_I'm Standing on a bridge _

_I'm waitin in the dark _

_I thought that you'd be here by now _

_Theres nothing but the rain _

_No footsteps on the ground _

_I'm listening but theres no sound _

_Isn't anyone tryin to find me? _

_Won't someone please take me home _

_It's a damn cold night _

_Trying to figure out this life _

_Wont you take me by the hand _

_take me somewhere new _

_I dont know who you are _

_but I'm, I'm with you _

_im looking for a place _

_searching for a face _

_is there anybody here I know _

_cause nothings going right _

_and everythigns a mess _

_and no one likes to be alone _

_Isn't anyone tryin to find me? _

_Won't someone please take me home _

_It's a damn cold night _

_Trying to figure out this life _

_Wont you take me by the hand _

_take me somewhere new _

_I dont know who you are _

_but I'm, I'm with you _

_oh why is everything so confusing _

_maybe I'm just out of my mind _

_yea yea yea _

_It's a damn cold night _

_Trying to figure out this life _

_Wont you take me by the hand _

_take me somewhere new _

_I dont know who you are _

_but I'm, I'm with you _

_Take me by the hand _

_take me somewhere new _

_I dont know who you are _

_but I'm, I'm with you_

_I'm with you_

_Take me by the hand _

_take me somewhere new _

_I dont know who you are _

_but I'm, I'm with you_

_I'm with you_

_I'm with you..."_

Yugi barely had time to croon out the last word of the song when a sudden noise broke the silence that had fallen over the auditorium the moment Yugi had started to sing.

Yugi yelped and whipped around to see the red-haired guy, Atsushi, standing in the aisle of the auditorium clapping wildly.

"Wow! That was excellent! Truly masterful! Really gut-wrenching, makes-me-wanna-kiss-you-so-you-won't-sing-such-sad-songs great!! You have really star potential, kid!" the red-head laughed.

"A-a-a-ah," Yugi could only stammer. He was embarrassed to a point that the very blood in his veins had stopped.

"You are the club guy Yugi-sama and I saw leaving!" Nero blinked in recognition.

"Yep, the name is Matshuri Atsushi and I-"

Yugi didn't wait to hear the rest of the introduction. He jumped off the stage, grabbed Nero's hand and raced them both out of that room so fast that it caused a mini slipstream to form in his wake.

"-Want to. . . get you . . .to join. . .Karaoke Club?" Atsushi said awkwardly to the silence. The boy looked after Yugi and Nero for a long moment then an almost unhealthy type of amused smirk came to his lips. "Ooooh that's right, run away little one. You aren't gonna stay out of my sights for long. . . These auditions just got a lot more interesting. didn't stop running until he and Nero reached the Kame Game Shop. By that time, he was so exhausted that not even the adrenaline still surging through his veins could get him up off the doorstep and into the house.

"I . . .**wheeze**. . .I can't believe . . .**huff wheeze huff pant **that someone was listening to me," Yugi huffed and puffed, his face pink from being flushed and exhausted more than from being embarrassed now.

"I don't see why Yugi-sama was so upset," Nero pouted, rotating his arm, trying to work the limb back into its socket. "Yugi-sama has a wonderful voice and shouldn't be ashamed."

"I doooooooon't!!!" Yugi wailed, burying his face into the knees of his pants.

"Do so!" Nero protested. The little angel sighed and folded his hands together over his heart. "I never heard such a pretty voice, filled with such emotion. It made me feel good to hear it."

Yugi squirmed uncomfortably at that. He didn't want to admit it but. . .singing had made HIM feel good too. While he was singing all the depression in his heart that Yami kept unwittingly putting there had just sort of melted away and Yugi got swept up in the melody.

In his mind the music crashed and swirled like a violent ocean, sweeping him up and away from anything and everything that was connected to his old life.

He even forgot about . . .

"Well it doesn't matter! I was way too embarrassed!! Singing for you is one thing but that GUY!! I nearly DIED when I saw him standing there," Yugi wailed.

Nero bit his lip in thought. His usually bright and open eyes were clouded over with a million thoughts.

Yugi noticed right away and looked up. He tried to get up to his feet but his legs shuddered and refused to obey.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Yugi called out. Nero blinked wildly and looked over at Yugi.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong? You look a little. . .well. . .lost I guess," Yugi said gently.

Nero stared at Yugi for a long, long moment then sighed mournfully and dove into Yugi's lap and snuggled himself against the younger (by a few thousand years) teen's chest.

"Yugi-sama needs to open up. . .He needs to be happy. . .Or else Nero can never be happy either," Nero mumbled into Yugi's school-jacket.

Yugi blinked at Nero in shock then wrapped his arms around the little cherub and gave as tight a squeeze as his exhausted body could give.

"Hey now. Don't talk like that. . .I'm fine, Nero. Really I'm completely fine. . .so that means you have to be happy too. If you were ever to be unhappy because of me, I don't think I could live with myself."

Nero just mumbled something incoherent and nuzzled even closer into Yugi's chest. His breathing slowly evened out and in only a minute he was fast asleep.

"_Awwwh! So cute . . .Hey! Wait! No! Not cute! Not cute at all! He fell asleep on me! Now I can't get up! I was too tired to pull even MYSELF up but now! CRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!!! Oh man! I'm stuck!!" _Yugi mentally wailed.

He tried to nudge Nero awake but when the little angel grunted in displeasure and wiggle to get comfortable again all Yugi's protests melted like butter on a superheated July sidewalk.

'_Too. Dang. CUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!!" _Yugi wailed mentally. He hugged Nero tightly against him.

A cold autumn breeze drifted through the air, heavy with the smell of dying foliage and city iron. Yugi shivered slightly and tugged Nero closer to himself.

The little angel was so very warm. . .that the breeze almost didn't matter.

'_Oh Nero, I wish you wouldn't get so attached to me. Getting so close to me. . .has never done anyone any good. . . Even I can't stand my own company."_

Yugi glanced thoughtfully up at the sky as he gently stroked Nero's back. The little one purred in comfort, causing gentle vibrations to go through Yugi's chest.

"Uuugh. . .No. . .I gotta. . .stay awake. . .can't fall asleep now. . .got to stay awake. . .got to. . ."

LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA

Yami yawned as he walked up to the Kame Game Shop. He and Tea had gone to see a movie. Yami couldn't even recall what the title was because the moment his butt had hit that theater seat he went out like a light.

It wasn't that Yami wasn't a fan of the cinema it was just that. . .well. . .If it was just Tea and himself movies weren't all that interesting. Or maybe it was the fact that Tea always dragged him to the corniest movies and even when the plot showed no signs of improving she refused to let him make fun of it.

Yugi and him always made fun of the corny movies. Especially romance films. Yugi could do a cooey love-struck girl impression that never failed to make the ex-pharaoh belt out in laughter.

Speaking of hikaris, Yami noticed something vaguely Yugi-shaped on the door-step as he walked up.

As Yami got closer he realized the lump of the stoop WAS Yugi. . .and Nero!!! What the??

The two of them were curled around each-other like kittens or a pair of doves or. . .any number of disgustingly cute romantic things that Yami could think of.

Why would they be cuddled up together like that out here in the open? And why was Nero even here so late? And why wasn't Yugi still at school? Didn't he have a detention?

Yami growled angrily. His glare softened when Yugi, unconsciously reacting to the angered sound, whimpered in his sleep and hugged Nero close to him like a teddy-bear.

"Yugi," Yami sighed almost inaudibly. The ex-pharaoh stared at his other-half for a long moment then let out an annoyed groan and knelt down.

"Yugi. . .Yugi wake up," Yami called.

Yugi opened his eyes, but clearly no one was really at the wheel.

"Yaw. . .me?" Yugi yawned.

(A/N: I am SOOOO like this. I am a great disciple of Morpheus and am hard pressed to be pulled from his kingdom. If people tell me things early in the morning then let me go back to sleep, I will have forgotten all about them by the time I have gotten up completely for the day.)

"We have to go inside, little one. You can't sleep out here," Yami chuckled good-naturedly.

"Oh," Yugi said simply. With a fair bit up help from Yami, the boy managed to escape from under Nero and get on his feet.

"Nero. . .can't-" Yugi yawned.

Yami stared down at the little boy in disgust but then noticed how worried Yugi looked.

"I'll carry him inside. . .he can sleep on the couch for tonight," Yami begrudgingly offered.

"Okay," Yugi smiled sleepily. Not really totally aware of what he was doing, the boy leaned up and placed a sinfully soft kiss on the corner of Yami's mouth before stumbling through the door that Yami had unlocked and up the stairs.

Yami stayed on the stoop. His face was as red as his eyes and the ex-spirit swore he could feel his heart beating against his ribs with at least a dozen-times its usual strength.

"Yugi just. . . He just. . ." Yami stammered in utter embarrassment. He stood red-faced, wobbly-kneed and short of breath for a very long moment trying to collect himself.

Realizing he wasn't going to get over this in a hurry, Yami scooped Nero up and hastily went inside.

He all but threw the poor cherub on the couch then ran upstairs to his bedroom and locked the door behind him.

There was no way he was going to be able to sleep tonight.

Down in the living room a pair of golden-flecked green eyes creaked open and a cat-ate-canary smile broke over a pair of cherry lips.

"Nizuki-nee will be really happy with this," Nero giggled. The little one got up and went to the door. He pulled the keys out of the lock then closed and bolted the door.

Nero then went to the linen closet upstairs and got out a spare blanket and pillow.

Once properly tucked in Nero smiled happily into the darkness of the house and sent a little prayer of thanks up to his Boss.

"Thank you for this an every opportunity you give Yugi-sama in his quest to find true-love. Nero promises to help Yugi-sama as best he can. Amen."

The angel giggled then fished out his pocket-mirror to contact Nizuki.

Yami wasn't the only one who wouldn't be sleeping tonight. Nero was much too excited now!

LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA

Masaka: I think I'm losing my mind. All the really cute stuff I write always comes out in the improve

Yami Masaka: There is nothing wrong with that. At least it came out at all. . .Besides I'm glad you add the fluff, you were unhappy with how this chapter was working out until you added that in

Masaka: **Gloomy cloud of writer's anguish pouring a steady gale down on the authoress's head **I had to introduce this plot point but it was sooooo. . .dry! I mean there was nothing going on in this chapter! And then there was that stupid song debacle I had to work out

Yami Masaka: It's fine. The song works for Yugi and besides the important part of it was Yugi's confession that he loved singing not anything else

Masaka: Do you think its right that I made Yugi's passion the same as Nero's?

Yami Masaka: **Shrugs and nibbles on candy from the reviewers **There's nothing particularly WRONG with it. I mean, you had to get him away from game-obsession somehow.

Masaka: Oh no, Yugi still loves games I'm just. . .adding more into it. I mean, Yugi can't really enjoy games anymore because he is mobbed by frenzied competitors when he so much as walks into an arcade so I thought, heck, why not singing? Singing is cute and he will have to put some real work into it because no matter what anyone else says you need voice coaching to be a really great singer. Or at least practice.

Yami Masaka: Oh yah!! **Waves at reviewers **If any of you know anything about club practices or karate training please e-mail us!! We need the info for the later chapters

Masaka: I can fake it but it will be a little more obvious that I am faking it

Nero: I LOVE ALL REVIEWERS AND GIVE OUT HUGS TO ALL OF THEM!!

Nizuki: I don't give out hugs. . .I give out exorcism lessons. ALL DEMONS MUST BE VANQUISHED!! AND THAT INCLUDES DUMB YAMI BAKURA!!!

Ryou: Nizuuuuuki!!!


	20. Not all dreams are harmless

Masaka: I have soooooo much work to dooooooo but because I reeeeeeeeeeally love all yooooooooooou (reviewers that is) I will continue to wriiiiiiite until my hair turns whiiiiiiite and I can't seeeeeeeee-

Yami Masaka: -And you really need to pee?

Masaka: **Scowl **don't make fun of my song

Yami Masaka: **Grinning contritely **Sorry aibou

Masaka: **Looks around the author's note in faint worry **Uh. . .say yami. . .have you seen Jason anywhere?

Yami Masaka: **Guilty twitch **Uh no, no I haven't aibou. Why do you ask?

Masaka: **Not even suspicious **I haven't seen him since the last chapter. . .y-you don't think. . .h-he ran away do you?

Yami Masaka: **Guilty cringe and another twitch **Oh don't be silly, sweets! I'm sure he's just uhhhh chasing a muse cat around somewhere in the infinite space between minds. . .you know. . .normal dog stuff

Masaka: **Stares in shock **Chasing a muse cat through mental infinity is normal dog behavior?

Yami Masaka: **Sweating bullets trying to repress another twitch **Yah well. . .sure it's normal behavior for a muse dog! I've been around mind-space for a lot longer that you 'Saka, so trust me when I say I know how this works

Masaka: **Happy innocent makes-you-feel-like-dog-poopie-for-lying-to-her smile** Oh, okay yami! I trust you. . .say I need to print out a paper really quick, you can start without me if you want **leaves authoress chambers**

Yami Masaka: **Panicked and guilt-stricken **Oh God! What am I gonna do? If 'Saka finds out I sent Jason back to Count D's place. . . Oh no, oh no, oh no

Yami: **Walks in yawning and ready for a day's work **G' morning Yami Masak-

Yami Masaka: **Exhilarated my-buns-are-saved teary look of relief on her face as she jump-tackles Yami **YAAAAAAMI!!!

Yami: **Freaked out, seriously **ACK! What the hell was that for??

Yami Masaka: **Serious negotiating look on her face as she holds Yami up by the lapels of his jacket to her moderately higher eye-level **Okay listen here you reanimated chunk of human consciousness and magic residue-

Yami: Technically I'm more than just-

Yami Masaka: **Shakes Yami firmly **Shut up! Listen to me when I say this! I am an authoress on the edge here and prone to rash decisions! If you EVER want to have another close moment with Yugi without Nero hovering around you WILL go over to Count D's Pet Shop and get back Masaka's stupid furball of an animal-bishonen Jason!! I don't care how you do it, I don't care if you have to slaughter a couple thousand people to do it, but you have GOT to get that dog back here by the next chapter!!!

Yami: But-

Yami Masaka: I WILL CHANGE THIS STORY TO YUGI/NERO IF YOU DON'T HUSSLE RIGHT NOW!!

Yami: I'm going, I'm going!! Sheesh. . .um but first. . .could you put me down?

Yami Masaka: **Blushes but lowers the pharaoh until his boots are back on the floor**

Yami: Good girl, now I'll go **walks out of the authoress room just as Masaka walks back in**

Masaka: What was Yami doing here?

Yami Masaka: **Panic major **CHAPTER START!!!

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Yugi was have another weird dream. Another whackado dream that really made you wonder where his mind got this sort of stuff.

In this dream Yugi was on the school's stage, just like he had been yesterday, except all the auditorium seats were filled. . . and Yugi was wearing a dress.

Not that Yugi particularly liked dresses, or would ever wear one without extreme pressure being exhorted upon him in some manner, but the dress in this dream was one Yugi actually kind of liked.

It was a Harajuku gothic girl's dream dress with pounds of black lace and silk and enough underskirts to dress an African village.

At the judge's table sat Yami and Joey and the devourer from Ancient Egypt Amam.

These three were grading his performance and yelling at him every time he did something wrong.

"You aren't hitting that high note Yugi, you can't sing this song properly without hitting that note," Yami said, though how he could even be hearing Yugi singing the hikari wasn't sure, because Tea had her hands over Yami's ears.

"Dance faster Yugi, no one is going to pay to see you just standing around," Joey said, though his face hidden behind a pile of textbooks and resume forms so Yugi wasn't sure how he could see.

"Mine to eat, mine to eat, mine to eat," Amam was cackling, licking its thick chops with a very eager tongue.

Yugi sang louder, not hitting a single sour note, moving his body in time with the music as best he could.

Still the judges yelled at him.

"Sing better."

"Dance better!"

"Mine to eat!"

Yugi was beginning to panic. There was a clock on the wall behind the audience that was ticking fast away. Yugi had to impress the judges before time was out otherwise Amam would eat him.

"Sing better!"

"Dance better!"

"Mine to eat!"

Yugi could feel sweat pouring down his neck like a waterfall, his legs trembled with fatigue and his throat felt like it was about to tear itself apart.

Still he did his best.

"Sing better!"

"Dance better!"

"Mine to eat!"

The clock was almost out! Just a few more seconds! The clock was almost out!!!

Amam slunk out of his chair and began to crawl up the stage.

"Yami! Yami please help!!" Yugi called out anxiously.

"Sing better," was Yami's only response.

"Joey! Joey! For the love of god, help! Help me! Call it off!!" Yugi cried out.

"Dance better," was the blonde's only reply.

Yugi's time was out. The Amam crawled up onto the stage, its lion body bloated with the hearts of so many other victims. As it got closer Yugi saw that it had green eyes, iridescent, red-centered green eyes!

"HELP! HELP ME!!!" Yugi screamed.

"Sing better!"

"Dance better!"

"Mine to-"

The Amam opened its jaw to swallow Yugi whole when suddenly Nero appeared out of nowhere with a spear in hand.

"Nero!" Yugi sobbed thankfully. "Thank you! Thank you! You came!"

Nero looked Yugi up-and-down with impassive green eyes then gave a very un-angel like smirk.

"Why should I save someone who won't even save themselves?"

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked.

Then, like the spirit of the future straight out of Charles Dickenson's novel, Nero raised his arm and pointed directly at Yugi's wrist.

Yugi looked down and saw his wrists were bleeding, gushing really, over his arms, over his clothes, and over the stage staining everything with a torrent of crimson.

"N-Nero, I-I just-" Yugi tried to explain himself.

"Heaven gives no aide to a suicide," Nero said formally.

The Amam, who had until now been cringing away from the little angel and the aura of light surrounding him, took this as his cue to advance.

The creature licked his teeth and opened its impossibly wide crocodile jaw open so wide that Yugi could see down into the creature's stomach where many nameless faces were squirming around, all doomed.

"NOOOOOO!!!!" Yugi screamed.

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Yugi's scream continued out in the 'real world' as well, but much softer and much more like a moan.

Finally the anguish in his mind became so intense; his body threw him back into consciousness. His eyes snapped out, pupils dilated in fear.

Standing above him, Yugi noticed first, was Nero. The little angel had his hands clapped together over Yugi's head like a little child who had just squished a bug.

"Icky pestie," Nero blanched before pulling his hands back from over Yugi's head and whipping them off on the uncomfortably familiar white-leather pants Nizuki had formed for him this morning.

If Yugi had been in less of a state of panic he would have noticed how the 'icky pest' had left very abnormal black and purple smudges over Nero's hips, where the angel had rubbed his hands.

As it was, Yugi was still too caught up in all the emotions that dream had brought out in him and could only scramble away from the angel, up against the wall at the head of his bed.

"W-what a-are you doing here. . .Nero?" Yugi asked nervously.

Nero looked at his temporary master as if he'd just sprouted flowers out of his ears.

"Yugi-sama told Yami-san to let me sleep on couch last night," Nero gently reminded the boy.

"O-oh yah, I did," Yugi said just for the sake of argument while he managed to sneak out from underneath the angel without having to get too near him.

Yugi then walked over to his closet and pulled out his second uniform. Nero watched him do this with a very concerned look on his face.

"Yugi-sama doesn't look right. He doesn't have right feelings either," Nero informed him.

"Y-You must be thinking t-too hard. . . I'm fine," Yugi said as he hastily clasped on his favorite leather wrist-guards.

"Nero doesn't think so," Nero said shaking his head calmly and crossing his arms over his red and white coca-cola t-shirt.

(A/N: Oh like I was going to dress in Nero in JUST leather pants again, get real)

"I-I am fine though," Yugi said as he finished dressing, never once turning to face the little angel.

Before Nero could get out another word Yugi dashed down the stairs to the kitchen to make himself breakfast.

It was still very early and Yugi really hoped that a good stack of calories would stop the shaking his body was going through.

Nero stood up in Yugi's bedroom for a little while longer, looking over the smudges of black that still covered his hands.

"_Does Yugi-sama's bad feelings come from that bug I squished? Could it have been . . . a demon trick?" _Nero thought to himself.

The little cherub wasn't very good at identifying tools of the demon trade. One of the many, many vastly ranged reasons why he hadn't gained a proper guardian license. However, even though he didn't know them, he could tell when their darkness had infected someone's heart.

As Nero had been watching Yugi sleep last night (Nero hadn't been tired at all after seeing that good kiss) he had noticed that strange bug hovering over the littlest hikari. And every time that bug had landed on Yugi's skin, the wave of emotions Yugi constantly gave out grew gloomier and gloomier and his body language grew more and more distressed.

Nero couldn't stand the thought of Yugi being hurt by a demonic spell. He couldn't stand the thought that he had LET Yugi be hurt by such a spell either.

Nero was good at charming people but was as useful as a roll of paper towels on a sinking ship when it came to ridding a person of a demonic presence.

Fortunately for him, Nero knew someone who was VERY good at cutting up demonic things.

Nero pulled out his little palm-mirror again and flipped it open.

Because it was her spell, Nizuki knew Nero had called and appeared in the view of the mirror before Nero even opened his mouth.

The angel looked a little ruffled, as if she'd slept upside-down on a rock, but that was probably just because she'd been casting quite a few spells lately.

"I haven't even collected a full bottle of sunlight yet, Nero," Nizuki yawned. "So this had better be important."

"I think Yugi-sama was attacked by a demonic spell."

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Down in the kitchen Yugi was trying his very best to banish all the vestiges of his dream from his mind.

He tried to reason with himself that dreams had no barring on real life, least of all dreams as ridiculous as the one he'd just had.

Unfortunately all his self-reassurances weren't enough and that dream clung to him like a foul smell.

"_But that dream DOES have a lot in common with reality. Yami always has one ear tilted towards Tea, listening to her every little request which keeps him away from you. And Joey IS blind to you, Yugi. Because of his prejudices and because his world has changed so that it is filled with more important endeavors than looking after little, pathetic, damned you."_

Yugi squeezed his eyes shut against that spiteful little voice in his ear. He even fisted his hands over his ears, but because the voice was coming from within it didn't help.

"Shut up!" Yugi begged through clenched teeth. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"Yugi?" a voice called.

Yugi yelped and whirled around his heart in his throat. Yami stood at the kitchen door, looking unkempt and curious.

Strangely at his appearance the voice inside his head died away to a manageable little hiss.

"Y-Yami. . .good morning," Yugi said, not daring to make eye contact with the elder boy in fear that he would burst into tears.

"Ah yes, good morning," Yami greeted back, also taking pains not to look at his charge, though for very different reasons.

"I was um. . .I got up early so I decided to make us some breakfast," Yugi explained.

"Oh good," Yami smiled nicely, not without any real emotion behind it.

The two boys stood together in awkward silence until Yugi decided to move away and start making some eggs, toast and to cut two slices of tomatoes.

(A/N: I've never actually eaten it but I've heard that toast with sun-side eggs with tomato slices is very good)

Yami watched Yugi putter around the kitchen for a little while before deciding to make himself useful.

He walked over to the cabinets to get out the dishes and accidentally nudged Yugi's arm as he was cutting up the fruit-vegetable.

(A/N: Tomatoes are a vegetable in the sub-category of fruit. Other such categories are seed –like corn- squash and root –like carrots or turnips-)

The effect that touch had on Yugi might as well have been the same as if Yami had slapped a hot iron against the boy's skin.

Yugi yelped and jumped away, causing both the cutting-board and the knife to fall to the floor.

Yami could have cared less about the utensils. He turned around swiftly to look at his aibou who was holding himself too tightly, with his head bowed.

"Aibou! What is it? What's wrong?" Yami asked in panic.

"N-Nothing. I'm sorry. It's nothing," Yugi said shortly, never looking up from the floor.

"Don't lie to me like that Yugi, I'm not blind and I can very clearly see that you are not well," Yami said perhaps a little too harshly given the circumstances. He couldn't help it though, he was worried.

Yugi flinched further away from his beloved ex-pharaoh at the sound of his shouting. His breathing was not at all regular.

"…Yugi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound cross," Yami apologized after seeing what he'd done.

"'S okay," Yugi said shaking his head.

"How about I make breakfast, and you just go to the living-room and try to settle yourself?" Yami suggested.

Yugi agreed with a quick nod of the head and darted out of the room.

Yami watched after him with overwhelming anxiety clear in his eyes. He tried to open the mind-link to feel out Yugi's emotions, but the bond between them was sealed tight.

"I suppose I'll just have to wait until he's up to telling me what's wrong," Yami sighed. The ex-pharaoh silently cleaned up the splatter of tomato off the floor and started making an alternative breakfast.

(A/N: I did say Yami couldn't cook worth beans in an earlier chapter so what will Yami's alternative choices be? Well the ever simple cold ceral, warm toast and orange juice special of course!!!)

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"-should keep an eye on him, Nero. If he still doesn't seem right by lunch then we'll have to take more drastic measures," Nizuki finished explaining to her cherub friend.

In the slight time they had been talking Nizuki's appearance melted from sleepy to awake and combat-ready. Seriously, she was dressed in a camouflage shirt, military-cut jacket and jeans with thick combat boots that went up to her shins.

Nero knew that more than any other guardian angel currently assigned to this side of the world, Nizuki was the most vicious in terms of taking out demonic spells.

Twice the blonde had considered going into the warrior-angel business, but had never gone through with the transfer and re-education due to her fondness for visiting Earth in non-dire situations.

Nero nodded in agreement with Nizuki's plan, but couldn't help but fidget in discontent. He didn't want to wait until LUNCH-TIME to fix Yugi-sama, he wanted to fix Yugi-sama NOW!

"This might not be an attack on us, Nero," Nizuki explained, obviously sensing Nero's unhappiness. "Bad dreams happen to everyone, everywhere . . . this could just be a simple everyday bad experience, and we are not allowed to interfere in those happenings."

"But why noooot!" Nero whined. Nizuki chuckled warmly at the sound.

"Silly, if we took every pain, then humans wouldn't ever gain the knowledge they need to work up a defense against demonic spells. That would cause a lot more causalities."

Nero pouted out his lower lip moodily but nodded in understanding anyway.

"Okaaaay, I will wait for lunch-time. . .but I don't think Yugi-sama is going to get any better."

"We just have to hope," Nizuki sighed warily. She gave Nero an encouraging grin and a wink and then vanished from the mirror, probably to go tackle-glomp Ryou awake.

Nero closed and put away his palm-mirror slowly, almost falling to the temptation to hail Nizuki again and demand she ignore the rules again and come over to the house.

"I know that some suffering makes a human stronger. . .but why does Yugi-sama have to hurt so much? Why can't the world just let him be," Nero thought forlornly as he pressed a hand over his heart.

Nero mourned silently over Yugi's fate for a moment longer than went downstairs to say good morning to the Motus.

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Ryou had no idea that Nizuki had had a serious discussion with Nero that morning so when he saw Yami, Yugi and Nero walking up the road to the bus-stop he was not prepared for their gloomy faces.

"My goodness, you all look like you've just found out Duel Monsters Cards were no longer being printed," Ryou said as the three came within hearing-range.

"Uh, well we had a . . . um tough morning," Yami said in excuse. Truthfully, he didn't feel all that bad. He just didn't like that Yugi wasn't happy. All his other problems seemed benign compared to that.

Even the problem that had most currently arisen; the one where Yami was freaking himself out of the fact that he was beginning to think of Yugi in an unforgivable new way seemed small in the wake of Yugi being upset.

"YAMI-KOI!!" Tea almost screamed, rushing out from behind a near-by building to fuse herself to Yami's arm.

"ACK! Oh, uh good morning Tea-koi!" Yami said in slight shock.

"Oh yes, good morning, great morning, in fact, now that you're here," Tea cooed.

"_Great morning in fact now that you're here_," Joey mocked in a high-pitched voice as he and Honda also came around the bend. "Sheesh Tea, you could not BE more cheesy if we sprayed you with Easy-Squeeze."

(A/N: Spray-can cheese does have a brand called Easy-Squeeze right? . . .Eh well it does now)

"Oh shut up, Joey," Tea said sticking her tongue out at the blonde.

Joey just chuckled then looked at the others. Once he took in everything the smile dropped right off his lips.

"Who died?" he asked.

Honda looked curiously at his companion then looked over the other's himself.

"Whoa, Yugi! You look awful man, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Yugi insisted, not matching gazes with anyone, one arm crossed protectively over his chest to clutch the bicep of his opposing arm.

"Nero, are YOU okay?" Ryou asked the second long-face.

Nero didn't answer, and didn't take his eyes off of Yugi.

A heavy silence covered the group even more oppressively than back at the Motu's house.

"Well, alright if no one wants to talk," Joey shrugged, "Tea, did ya get the answer to tha' last question on yesterday's homework?"

"Hmmm, no I didn't. It wasn't mandatory homework so I went out with Yami-koi instead of working on that junk," Tea said perfectly content.

"WHA-" Joey exclaimed.

"I have that problem Joey, I can explain it to you when we get to class if you want," Ryou helpfully put in.

"Ah, good then. . ." Joey said, not taking his eyes off of the brunette. Honda was scratching his head thoughtfully at their female compatriot as well.

"Gees Tea, since when have you turned into one of us slackers? You are usually at Joey and I's throats about having us complete all our assignments."

"Hmm, I just found that there are some things more important in life than work," Tea said absent-mindedly.

Now when Nizuki said that statement, that school-work wasn't all important, it somehow sounded just and righteous. When Tea said it however, it just seemed. . .slothful.

Honda shrugged off the answer however and started a conversation with Joey about some television show that had aired last night.

With the two lumbering beast thus occupied and Tea and Yami fused together, sealed off in their own little world, Ryou took the opportunity to discuss more discreet matters.

"Okay, stuff the B.S, I know something is wrong. Nero wouldn't be acting like this if there wasn't something wrong with you, Yugi," the white-haired hikari snipped.

"I just had a stinking bad-dream that creeped me out alright!" Yugi snapped right back. "I just want everyone to stop fussing over me! I'm perfectly capable of looking after my own emotions! I'm not some little baby that needs to be coddled or some little traumatized angsty emo that need to be monitored!"

Yugi then hitched his backpack higher over his shoulders and stopped over to the other-side of the bus stop where he could stand alone.

Ryou looked at Yugi wide-eyed than looked over at Nero. "What in the world is wrong with him? Did Yami and Tea do the 'inappropriate thing' at the Kame Shop where Yugi could see or something?"

"Yugi-sama was saying truth. . .He did have a bad dream. . .Just one that he might not get over without Nizuki-nee's help."

"What does Nizuki have to do with this?" Ryou asked.

"Only she knows how to get rid of bad demon spell," Nero explained.

"Hmmph, and yet she refuses to show her face until noon," Ryou pouted. "Sometimes I don't understand her."

"Oh Nizuki isn't being mean, Ryou-san," Nero spoke up for his onee-chan. "She's looking after other affairs that need her attention as well."

"What kind of other affairs?" Ryou sulked. Obviously, like Nero, he thought that Nizuki should be here fixing Yugi right now.

"She is spreading hope, erasing doubt, looking after your yami and lotsa, lotsa other stuffs," Nero explained solemnly.

Ryou looked at Nero in surprise then embarrassedly lowered his head to stare at the sidewalk.

"Oh well. . .Then I guess I can't be too mad at her, can I?" Ryou said awkwardly.

Nero giggled and gave Ryou a gentle glomp. "Is all right that you didn't know Ryou! Angels are very mysterious! That's part of the reason I not a guardian myself after all."

Ryou nodded in understanding then looked over at Yugi, who was leaned against the metal grate side of the bus bench pavilion. Nero followed his gaze over to Yugi as well.

"It isn't fair," Ryou sighed. "If there had to be a demon attack on anyone. . .why couldn't it have been me? Yugi doesn't deserve this."

"Ryou doesn't deserve it either," Nero pouted. Ryou smiled awkwardly in embarrassment at the cherub.

"I didn't mean it like that I just meant. . .I wish I could help him more, instead of being another source of problems in his life."

"If Ryou-san follows Nizuki-nee's advise then I think you will get your chance sometime," Nero reassured. "You are. . . a very good friend."

"Well Yugi started it," Ryou playfully pouted as if the gang's friendship had been something awful that had been forced upon him. He then winked reassuringly at the little one. "Are you coming with us?"

"Uh-huh! Nizuki told me to look after Yugi-sama, so I am going to look after Yugi-sama," Nero said firmly.

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Back at the Bakura household, Nizuki was preparing herself for what lay ahead. This means she was praying fervently and soaking up as much energy as the heavens would give her.

Every spell Nizuki used cost her more and more energy from her human form and if she wasn't careful she'd spend so much energy that she would have to return to Heaven long before her mission was done.

"Please Father. . .give me strength. . .Amen," Nizuki whispered gently before raising from her knees and taking a head-clearing breath.

First things first though. Nizuki wouldn't run off to Domino High School right now, as much as she wanted to.

Nizuki's first objective was to find out what Bakura was doing. She had to study that idiot more to figure out exactly how he played in to the whole Ryou's Future Happiness objective.

Concentrating all her energy on the ex-tomb robber Nizuki allowed her physical body to drift away and allowed her powers to sweep her away across town.

In the twinkling of an eye Nizuki reappeared on a dingy little street, disguised in a beggar's skin and clothing.

The now grungy brunette swept her bright amber eyes across the street trying to find the one she'd come looking for.

It didn't take long. Bakura's white hair caught the little light there was and bounced it back heavenward.

Nizuki tottered over on her misleadingly crippled looking feet closer to where Bakura was.

The yami was talking to someone standing in the doorway of what Nizuki presumed was a drug-house.

The man was a very seedy looking character with an aura that nearly made Nizuki toss her cookies all across the pavement.

Unlike Bakura who was bad only because he was lost as to how else he should act, this man gave of the distinct impression that he knew how cruel and vicious he was and that he didn't really care.

The man had demon claims all over his spirit and those claims seemed to sink all the way down to his soul. There was nothing within him that Nizuki felt drawn to save. The man was already dead; he just didn't know it because his brain was still firing signals. Come this poor sap's death though. . .

"I told you, Bakura," the man spat, his bald tattooed head gleaming in the slight sunlight just like Bakura's hair, "If you don't ante-up the money you own me already, you ain't getting back in here!!"

"I TOLD you already, I'll get your damn money as soon as I can!!" Bakura snapped back.

Looking at him standing there, Nizuki felt an unexpected swell of pity bubble up from her core.

The poor yami looked like a bit like a lost child. It was obvious to Nizuki's discerning eyes that the dark one wasn't very comfortable with his own very unusual situation but he didn't know how to get out of the trouble he'd caused himself. Poor boy looked as though he was trying to figure out how he'd come to this point in the first place.

"'Soon' is a very vague description buddy, I want something more concrete. . .how about you give me that little trinket you always wear around your neck and we'll call it even?" the man said licking his chops greedily.

"Nothing doing you butt-munch," Bakura said spitting at the guy's feet.

Immediately two very blocky men came out of the building behind the bald man and rushed over to the ex-thief.

Bakura let out an uneasy gasp and took several steps back, moving his body into a ready position and drawing a handful of power from his Ring.

The breath caught in Nizuki's lungs as she watched the desert bandit prepare himself for a brawl. She was ready to spring in the moment Bakura let out his shadow powers.

Surprisingly though, that moment never came. Bakura attacked the thugs and the thugs attacked him back. Never once did that gathered power get launched.

Several painfully long minutes passed before Bakura finally fell to the pavement in a bloody heap. The men around him were in pretty bad shape too, almost worse than the supposed 'victim' himself.

Observant to this fact the punk at the door decided to give Bakura a verbal warning and then retreated back into his dank little hide-a-hole.

Reaching out with all her heavenly sensitivities Nizuki slipped into Bakura's head to listen to what was going on in there.

'_You idiot! What the hell were you doing back there letting those pathetic mortals beat you to the ground?' _a dark nausea-inducing voice spoke first.

'_I was trying to keep from making a scene. How would it look to everyone if four men just up and vanished from the face-of-the-earth,' _another peculiarly quiet voice answered back.

'_Who in Hell's name gives a damn what people would think!! You should never let yourself be forced to the ground! You are stronger than that!!'_

'_I can't get caught! I can't get caught using Shadow Magic! This is my last chance! My ONLY chance!'_

Before Nizuki had a chance to pry any deeper, use her magic to peep into the ex-tomb thief's memories, Bakura managed to pull himself up to his knees and he used the power in his hands to repair the damage done to his body.

The mere presence of that power in his body made Nizuki's own power retreat like a fire before a lake.

Vagabond Nizuki pulled her stocking-cap over her grubby brunette curls and slunk back into the shadow of the buildings to watch Bakura walk past.

He paused for a moment in front of her, staring so seriously at her eyes that Nizuki was afraid she may have misjudged the holder of the Ring and had gotten herself caught.

Luckily the idiot white-haired spirit wasn't THAT sensitive and he spat a nice sickly ball of yellowish phlegm right at her toes. The angel blanched and pressed up closer to the building.

Bakura laughed cruelly and walked on, a renewed swagger to his step.

'_THAT MAN!!' _Nizuki thought furiously. '_That man is by FAR the most infuriating creature it has EVER been misfortunate to come across!! Ugh! And to think that I was starting to feel PITY for him!! Ugh! Eek!'_

Within the time it would take for a fly to twitch its wing Nizuki sent herself off again, leaving behind only the slightest waver in the air, like a current of hot air.

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For the next four or five hours Nizuki continued to flitter around the city doing the little things her job required her to do whether she thought they were important to her mission or not.

Finally after getting all of that done the blonde deemed it time to check up on Yugi and warped herself in the appropriate direction.

Much to her displeasure the trip caused her methodically planned camouflage outfit to be lost and had made her hair go from its usual strawberry-blonde to a more dish-water blonde color.

Still as far as that sort of thing went, Nizuki didn't think she'd come out too bad.

"One of these days I'm going to figure out how to zip around the city without ever changing my appearance," Nizuki grumbled to herself as she tugged down the skirt she had somehow managed to summon for herself before taking a deep breath and walking into the school-yard.

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During this time Yugi had been getting steadily worse.

Not that anyone could really tell, of course. To all his friends and even to Ryou who had been very methodically about keeping track of the petite boy's slightest gesture Yugi looked the same.

Yugi didn't feel the same though. All throughout the day that little voice in his ear had been gaining strength and whispering things that Yugi swore he'd never ponder again.

It had started out as simple questioning of Yugi's rather shaky thoughts about things like whether or not Yami cared about him or whether or not he could use an angel's help.

But as the day progressed the voice had gone into fiercer dialogue, making comments about Yugi's current position within his circle of friends, and comments about certain events like duels in Battle City and the injuries obtained there.

By the time lunch rolled around the voice was screaming hideous things that Yugi couldn't help but take to heart. The voice especially liked to talk about the events of June 12th roughly two years ago.

When the lunch-bell sounded Yugi darted out of the room like a dear being pursued by a wolf.

His friends didn't even have time to shout questioningly after him.

The poor teen ran down the stairs and out the door to the oak tree. He didn't even notice that Nizuki was waiting there until he tripped over the girl's shoes and fell head-long into her chest.

"Yugi! Oh baby, you look awful, what's going on?" Nizuki asked, hoping the answer would be something other than what she already suspected.

"Let me go! Leave me alone!!" Yugi wailed, thrashing wildly in Nizuki's arms.

Nizuki held tight, ignoring the slight blows the boy was throwing. She waited until he was properly exhausted then loosened her grip and adjusted Yugi to lie on her lap.

About two minutes later Nero came rushing up to meet the two, a look of horror on his sweet round face.

"Yugi-sama feel so bad!!" Nero cried worriedly, wiping fervently at the fat tears rolling down his downy cheeks. "Yugi-sama feel so very bad inside that I want to scream!"

"I know Nero, I'm sorry I didn't listen to your suggestion of skipping the waiting-time. There is a panic-parasite buried inside Yugi's heart giving off malignant energy the likes of which I've never seen in a minor spell. We have to get him over to Ryou's right now. It's better for him to recuperate there than over at the game shop."

"Oh Yugi-sama," Nero whimpered.

Nizuki got to her feet as easily as if she wasn't holding Yugi at all. She held out a hand for Nero to take which the cherub did immediately.

"These demons are really starting to tick me off, they are playing fair," Nizuki informed her partner briefly before whisking them both away.

The blonde angel made sure to send a mental message to Ryou telling the boy to go to karate practice after-school and act as if nothing was wrong before she left.

Nero had already helpfully told Councilor Harrison that Yugi had been feeling ill and might leave after lunch.

Neither angel bothered to leave any forwarding information for Yami. In both their minds the ex-pharaoh wasn't deserving of an explanation after letting Tea distract him from his hurting aibou. If the guy had a panic-attack from not knowing where Yugi was then it would be his own dang fault.

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

In a rather shady hotel suite a tall male figure untangled himself from the still snoring figure of Trika. He gave the succubus an affectionate peck on the forehead, put on his coat and walked out of the building.

Unlike his partner, this still shadowy figure was a professional. He knew what to do and when to do it. Thus why he had sent Yugi that parasite.

Hopefully things would turn out the way he had planned. If they did then he was looking at a long, long time stuck with a sulky Trika. Sure there were worse things in Hell than that, but not many.

He pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket and lit it with a spark of flame from his fingertips. The smoke would hopefully cover Trika's smell.

He would have showered if he'd had the time, but Trika had ordered him to work on the case first and foremost and he couldn't disobey his Mistress.

The contract Trika held binding him to her had never seemed like such a curse until right then.

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

**Masaka: **I couldn't find Jason AND I wrote a crappy chapter

**Yami Masaka: **It is NOT a crappy chapter, it is a weird chapter. You didn't have any of these issues written in your original summary

**Masaka: **No I didn't. . .I certainly didn't have poor Yugi getting attacked by an icky demon panic bug **sighs heavily **And I certainly didn't write any crazy dream about Amman

**Yami Masaka: **Oh, oh, oh!! Can anyone guess the importance of June 12th? 'Saka and I left a helluva a lot of clues in the earlier chapters!! The first one to guess right can get a cameo appearance in Ryou's karate class! Just send a description of yourself along with the answer!!

**Masaka**: Where is Jason? I'm really starting to get worried about him

**Yami comes skidding into the room.**

**Yami: **Hey Yami Masaka I went over to Count D's shop like you told me to but when I asked about Jason that weird shop-keeper brought out this really freaky looking person and I

**Another person charges in. He is about nineteen years old and stands about 6'2''. His hair is the same dandelion puff texture as Jason's and the same white color. The boy's hair stands in an almost spiky manner on his head, just barely draping over his golden-hazel eyes and his sort of elfish looking ears.**

**He is muscular in a skinny boy type of way with a frame that is more limbs than torso. He is dressed in a pearl gray tank-top and jeans with the knees ripped out. Around his narrow neck is a dog-tag bearing the same license Masaka had printed for Jason.**

**Jason: **Yami Masaka!!! Why the heck did you send me back to Count D's when you knew fully well you would have to send someone to get me back???

**Yami Masaka: **. . . .**Passed out from shock on the floor**

**Masaka: **Jason? What happened to you? You look. . .different

**Jason: Smiling pleasantly **Count D brought out my human-side. Do you like it? I can stay this way if you want

**Masaka: Bouncing up and down like Tigger on a suger-high **Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!! I have a bishonen!! A really real bishonen!!

**Yugi and Nero: **Please Read and Review, all suggestions for revision will be seriously considered and rewarded with shout-outs, chibi kisses or other wonderful prizes!!!


	21. The reason why Yami couldn't rest

**Masaka:drowning in a pool of plot bunnies **Glub glub glurrrrrgh

**Yami Masaka: **ACK!! Aibou!! What the heck!!**dives into the pool and yanks Masaka back onto solid ground **Are you okay?

**Masaka: spitting out pink marshmallow bunnies **This story is eating me whole. I am so lost it is getting ridiculous

**Masaka: absentmindedly watching the bunnies bounce their way back to the pool **Just write 'Saka, you always settle things better on paper then in your mind

**Masaka: **Okay but don't blame me if it turns out awful

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Like most any occupation guardian angels had a manual. It described all the rules of conduct between angels and demons and it explained what could and could not be done with angelic powers.

According to the guidelines agreed upon in the latest meeting of the Great Council for Heaven/Hell Co-existence and said Manual Of Angel/Daemon Conduct section XXI, paragraph 12, item ii paranoia parasites were limited to whispering malicious suggestions into the minds of the fully-conscious _only._

As such, while Yugi lie still in a drowsy not-quite-awake not-quite-asleep state his mind was completely free of demonic-spurred thoughts.

The parasite took this time to browse through the memories in Yugi's mind that it had previously skipped over. It also spent this time adjusting itself to sound more like a part of Yugi instead of some outside voice. It was more devastating to be yelled at by yourself.

The only thing going through Yugi's mind during this time wasn't quite a _thought. _The little synaptic spark bouncing around the Prince of Game's mind was a happy indulgence of an as-of-that-moment unknown sourced pair of hands stroking his face.

As Yugi drifted closer and closer to consciousness the sensation became more concretely defined and the first few sparks of association and curious speculation arose.

_How do I know this feeling?_

_When was the last time someone looked after me like this?_

Faintly an old grainy memory floated to the forefront of Yugi's mind. It was a memory of a woman who Yugi hadn't seen in a long, long time. A woman who had broken Yugi's heart years before the boy had even seen the Millennium Puzzle.

"M-Mom," Yugi called out, slowly opening his eyes.

The figure above him, to his sleepy mind, looked exactly similar to his mother. The familiarity faded, however, as full consciousness caught up with Yugi once again.

"Yugi-sama," Nero sighed in relief from above him.

'_You idiot! Your mother won't have anything to do with you! Why on EARTH would you think she'd show up now?' _the parasite in Yugi's body hissed even as Yugi smiled back at the little angel.

"Hey Nero. . .wh-where are we?" Yugi asked, his body almost too weak to sit up because of all the emotional trauma he'd been through.

But sit up Yugi did and as the short boy looked around he realized that he was most definitely not in the Game Shop.

Not that Yami or he were slobs but this place was just too clean to be the shop. Everything around him had been cleaned and pressed and starched to a point where it seemed even the residual aura had been scrubbed off the furniture. This level of cleanliness was actually kind of scary in how anonymous it made everything seem.

The color-scheme of the room was different than the Game Shop too. Here everything was shades of gray and blue with little dollops of white and mahogany.

At the game shop hues dipped into the reds and yellows, with emeralds, purples and chestnut brown playing a great part in the design as well.

The supposedly loud colors of his home had always given Yugi a sense of warmth and a sort-of family-like spirit of security and unheeded acceptance.

This room didn't give Yugi any particular sensation that he hadn't brought in with him. This place was as emotional as a black sheet of drawing paper.

Frankly it kind of gave Yugi the creeps.

"You're in Ryou's house, Yugi," another voice said from behind him, nearly causing Yugi's heart to break out of his chest in fright.

He whipped around to look over the top of the pearl-gray couch and saw Nizuki standing in the slated sunlight pouring through the shutter-covered windows.

Much to Yugi's surprise the angel was standing there completely undisguised, dressed in her heavenly robes with her wings fully extended.

'_Oh shit,' _the voice hissed.

"Do you remember what happened just before you passed out?" Nizuki asked as she walked further into the room.

Not unnoticed by Yugi Nero rose from his kneeling position beside Yugi and moved to stand a good six feet away.

"I-I…ran into you under our lunching tree," Yugi stammered.

"_Fell on her is more like it, you stupid klutz. And you landed on her chest to boot. Too bad it wasn't someone like Mai, huh, you pervert,' _the voice sneered.

"You did and you tried to fight away when I reached up to touch you," Nizuki agreed continuing her trek over to Yugi.

"I-I'm sorry," Yugi whimpered.

'_Stupid damned jerk! Hitting an ANGEL of all things! That's GOTTA ensure you a nice plot in Hell!"_

"Silence," Nizuki said, though for some odd reason Yugi didn't think she was talking to him. Stranger still that menacing voice deep inside gave a short curse before going mute.

The angel finished making her way to Yugi's side and she knelt down in the place Nero just vacated.

"Yugi. . .answer me truthfully. Are you hiding any particular marks on your body . . . underneath yourwrist-cuffs?"

A burst of absolute terror so profane it wasn't even a proper feeling but rather an awesome physical pain made up of horrible memories, past sensations, scared assumptions and soul-deep agony bloomed within Yugi's mind.

Nero, being so closely connected to Yugi and generally just too empathetic, whimpered and slid to the floor.

"I-I. . .I c-can't.. . I mean I-I don't. . .I-I mean I-I j-just," Yugi whimpered.

Nizuki just smiled with sad acceptance and unsnapped the boy's wrist-bands.

Revealed fully to the world stood two almost unnoticeable and faint scars. They were only slightly raised from the skin, showing the cut had been precise and to the point rather than an emotional driven drag of steel on flesh.

Still despite their clinical straight-forwardness, it was all too easy to see what they were

. . .suicide cuts.

"I had a feeling that you were hiding something like this. That demonic parasite in your chest needed some unsheltered part of your body to get in, and metaphysically speaking your wrists are wide-open to any invasion," Nizuki sighed, her long soothing fingers caressing and massaging Yugi's wrists and palms.

The action caused bile to rise in Yugi's throat from self-disgust.

"Yugi-sama. . .cut himself," Nero croaked from his place on the floor.

That comment, in Nero's sweet voice, caused Yugi to go over his tolerance level. The boy darted to the bathroom he'd spotted early and threw up.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AT SCHOOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was good fortune that Yugi had closed his mind-link with Yami earlier because in the state he was in if Yami had sensed Yugi's distress the ex-spirit would have committed a murder. . .or maybe gouged his eyes out with a spork or something equally violent.

Yami had it in his mind that any and all distress that came from Yugi must have roots in some physical thing, like bullies picking on his hikari for example.

And it was then Yami's duty to '_fix' _that _problem _in whatever way he saw fit.

Having Yugi just up-and-leave school in the middle of the day was playing havoc with Yami's head. The ex-pharaoh was so upset he was now enshrouded in a haze of anxious-to-act shadows that not even Tea, with all her Yami-centered charm and talent, could dispel.

"I just don't understand why Yugi wouldn't contact me if something was wrong," Yami grumbled from maybe the hundredth time in the last ten minutes.

"Yugi isn't a child, Yami," Tea interjected, "he doesn't have to come reporting to you every time he feels a little off-key."

"But-" Yami started to say. The tri-colored haired teen then let the sentence drop off. Truthfully he had nothing he could add to the end of his exclamation that would appropriately explain why Yami felt so hurt and why what Tea suggested was so wrong.

To Yami it was inconceivable that he should be barred from Yugi (mentally or physically) or be kept in the dark concerning Yugi's well-being.

Yami was vital to Yugi's welfare, in his mind if no one else's. According to Ryou, Nero and Nizuki were looking after Yugi.

To most anyone else, that would have been enough of a reassurance that the issue could have been dropped. Not Yami.

The whole of Kaiba's medical staff could be looking after Yugi and Yami would still consider it insufficient.

Yugi needed attention from someone who knew him.

He needed someone who understood that Yugi didn't like to be held until whatever Yugi thought needed to be confessed or discussed was thoroughly talked over.

Yugi needed the attention of someone who would know to run his fingers through Yugi's hair, pulling the hair away from the nape of his neck to calm the boy down.

Yugi needed someone who knew just where to wrap his arms around the boy to bring him the most comfort.

In short, Yugi needed Yami.

Of course it had never occurred to Yami that someone else COULD tend to those needs and that Yami's reasoning probably stemmed from his own need to tend to Yugi.

Just then, in that moment, Yami let his emotional guard down and all his emotions became clearly visible. This wasn't perhaps the worst thing that could ever happen, but it wasn't the best either.

Yami forgot he was friends with three very rambunctious teenage boys (Ryou not included because he was quiet and mature; Kaiba not even entering thought) and teenage boys are notorious for making awkward confessions of emotions even more worse.

"Oh Yami, if I'd have known how important this was to you I would have told you all about my stomachache!" Otogi said in a breathy falsetto that wasn't even close to Yugi's voice while clutching Honda's hands in his own.

"Yugi, you are so important to me that I can't stand anyone getting close to you! Why don't you ditch Nero and come start a three-way with Tea and me," Honda replied in a deep, deep voice that sounded more like a growling dog than any human voice.

The two boys then sighed in pseudo-joy and nuzzled their cheeks together.

"Oh stop it you guys, this is embarrassing to watch, stop!" Joey said with an effeminate lisp to his voice with one hand held to his face like a star struck girl and the other hand waving limp-wristed in a sort shushing motion.

Tea snorted in laughter against her will while Ryou woefully rolled his eyes skyward.

Yami showed a much more immediate reaction by wrapping his powers around the three boys and shoving them via spine jarring hard against the shade-tree.

The three teens let out identical yells of 'oof' and winced their eyes shut.

"My behavior isn't at all comparable to your disrespectful little pantomime and I rather resent what you three are implying," Yami said with an icy calm voice that was almost scarier than his usual heated anger.

"W-we didn't mean anything by it," Otogi said kicking his legs out by instinct in an attempt to break the grip holding him captive.

"Y-Yah man, we were only t-teasing," Honda said, flailing in much the same way.

"Why the heck are you gettin' so defensive?" Joey wailed as he pressed his weight against the tree, trying to wrench away instead of fight against the shadows like the others.

"I'm not acting defensive," Yami said plainly.

Joey may have been about to comment but Yami chose just then to press the shadows against all three boy's throats so the words were never spoken.

"Listen closely to this you three," Yami growled soft and sinister. "You can have your fun mocking my stature, my skills, my past or even my personal life but you are to never _ever _mock, in any way, my and Yugi's connections, understand?"

The three teens croaked out garbled appositives and Yami let them flop to the roots of the tree. Tea took the opportunity to grab the ex-spirit's attention and drag him off into a shadier area where they could 'cool off.'

Joey, Honda and Otogi gladly took the moment to try and bring circulation back to their crushed limbs and force air down into their lungs.

". . .He was defensive though. . .right?" Joey croaked rubbing his reddening throat.

Otogi and Honda nodded as one but didn't say anything further.

Being friends with a super-powered former pharaoh really sucked at times.

!!!!!!!!!! BACK AT BAKURA'S HOUSEHOLD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yakking up his breakfast did help Yugi relax. His heaving and gagging had sapping his of the energy needed to be upset.

Nizuki came in, helped Yugi rinse out his mouth, and then carried him back to the couch.

Once on the cushions again, Nero took it upon himself to embrace Yugi physically, wrapping his cherub arms around the teen's shoulders.

While normally Yugi didn't like anyone holding him when he was upset, Nero's touch soothed Yugi so perfectly that nothing within Yugi could bring voice to protest this intimacy.

"Brave Yugi-sama tried to hide awful secret from us, just so we wouldn't be upset," Nero sand gently into Yugi's ear. "Yugi-sama must've been so scared though . . .so scared. .."

Nizuki watched the two hold each other for awhile then cleared her throat to gain their attention.

As much as she wanted to let Nero just keep comforting Yugi things had to be done, confessions had to be declared, wounds needed to be tended to and all that.

"You don't seem the suicidal type, Yugi. . .you have strength within you to handle great threat and even greater heartache. So I have to ask. . .why?"

Inside Nizuki was a mass of conflicting emotions. The great unrelenting light within her was greatly agitated at the youth for doing something so wasteful and selfish.

The other more embracing part of her was sympathetic; understanding that because of his natural distance from Divine Grace the pain of something might just be too much for Yugi to handle.

Mixed together these feelings were making Nizuki slightly jittery and soul-sick. She wouldn't feel good again, she knew, until she sliced that damn bug out of Yugi's body.

And even she probably wouldn't feel right for a while. Nizuki had bad memories connected to a protectorate who had suicidal tendencies . . . a case she couldn't properly remember for the life of her.

"I... I never meant to …I …" Yugi tried to start. It was clear to Nizuki the boy was only confused and not trying to make excuses. That made Nizuki feel more comfortable.

"Just speak what is in your heart," Nizuki suggested. "Let the feelings flow, open up the callous and we'll keep it from bleeding too badly."

"He left me," Yugi finally managed to start. "I-I had been a part of him and he just left! I-I-I t-tired to get over it, I really did! I w-worked so hard trying to get him off my mind . . . but . . .The silence in my heart and mind was terrifying! After so much noise, so much emotion, so much thought. . .it was terrifying! I-I didn't ever plan on doing it, even at my lowest the idea of cutting myself was just too. . . b-but one night I-I accidentally stepped on one of grandpa's razor-blades and I. . .I-I was so empty that. . . death seemed so unthreatening in comparison. . .it was like I could f-feel anything at all without my other-half. . ."

Yugi shuddered in pain and squeezed Nero tighter to his body. Nero responded by holding onto Yugi tighter.

"I woke grandpa up when the bleeding didn't stop. . .God, it must've been like walking into a nightmare for him. . .me walking into his dark bedroom. . .b-bleeding all over the carpet like that. . .

T-the hospital g-gave me all these drugs before stitching me up. . .

When I came to the next day Joey and Honda were at my bedside. Joey looked particularly awful, with stress-lines all over his face and a mangled appearance that looked almost wild . . .

He made me s-swear to. . .to come to him if I ever got so low again. . .he made me swear that I would get stronger. . .so that he'd never have to see me so broken ever again. . .

But I was still so empty inside. . .I didn't understand why everyone had gotten so upset, I thought . . .I'm not sure what I thought really. . .maybe I was thinking that they should have understood my pain more. . .that they should have let me do what I wanted. . .to stop that pain. . .

But I've always been good at putting on the happy act for others, so I went through therapy, I took all the pills, I let my friends guard me and watch me as close as they wanted. . .

All that time I could still feel the void within me that Yami's departure had left. . .

And then. . . Ishizu found a ritual that would offer Yami a choice of coming back to this world. God,"

Yugi ignored the two angels' shivers,

". . . I remember hearing his voice echoing from the other-side. It had sounded as empty and lonely as mine had . . .I had thought that as long as we were together than everything else would work itself out. We could lead totally different lives, completely separate from each other. . .as long as we were whole again. . .and I would be happy. . ."

Yugi paused in his story to pull away from Nero and unbutton his shirt. He shrugged it down over his shoulders to the crooks of his arms.

Nizuki arched a curious brow to ask why then she noticed a scar almost identical to one on Ryou's body.

Underneath Yugi's left pectoral, the symbolic location of the heart, was a moon-pale scar, like a crack in a marble statue that had been filled in with builder's putty.

Nizuki had thought the scar had been unique only to Ryou and that it had been a memento from Bakura.

"We had to cut our yamis from our hearts. . .both Ryou and I," Yugi whispered softly as he watched Nero's curious fingers trace across the mark. "I thought that was unusual because I had wanted to put Yami back inside of me, not cut away what little remained there. . .

Despite having cut my wrist I was very squeamish about cutting myself that time. . .I tore through the muscle in my haste. . . Ryou apparently scrapped bone . . .

A blinding flash and a mega-drain of energy later, Yami was sprawled across the ground in front of me, naked, disorientated but oh-so real. . .Just like that the emptiness was gone and I felt as if the last few months had all been some type of sleep-walking experience. . .

Joey and the others all backed off and. . . really I think they thought like I did, that _I _would never attempt to kill myself and that it was just my stupid Sennen Link that had messed me up. . .

The scars were embarrassing to me, like the reminder of a stupid prank gone wrong. . . I never totally forgot it and the memory had started to nag at me by the time Yami and Tea got together and. . .then . . .you guys came and. . ."

Yugi trailed off and silence overcame them all.

Nizuki looked long and hard at Yugi then smiled tersely. "Then the fault lies within the puzzle and not you. . .Silver Clouds Across the Moon those stupid items have always been a stain on the fabric of the universe but some times I forget . . .I'm glad you didn't do something so vile of your own provocation."

"You mean. . .you don't hate me?" Yugi whimpered in relief.

"We could never hate Yugi-sama!" Nero cooed warm as chocolate-chip cookies from the oven, "We couldn't hate you for something you could not help. Your soul was hurt. You should not have been made to face such bad ickiness."

Yugi leaned heavily back against the couch as his whole body slumped in relief. He didn't even notice that his shirt was still almost completely off.

Nizuki quirked an appreciative eyebrow at the sight, something that Nero gave her an angered pout for.

"But you know . . . that because you did this . . . you will always be vulnerable to attacks by demon parasites," Nizuki said.

"I was kind of figuring you'd tell me something like that," Yugi smiled weakly.

"But. . .you don't have to suffer indefinitely. . . I am going to cut this bug out of you now Yugi," Nizuki said getting to her feet and taking a step back.

Nero yelped and dove behind the couch. Yugi looked over at the tuft of hair that was still visible then turned to Nizuki.

"Uh what do you mean-"

"Put out your arms, Yugi," Nizuki almost cooed.

Still riddled with confusion Yugi said his arms out in front of him. Nizuki smiled wickedly and in the twinkling of an eye whipped out a sort of light from nowhere.

It glowed and pulsed like a miniature sun while the outline of an Arthurian sword still shone through.

"WHAT THE HELL??? EXCALIBER??" Yugi spluttered, offering up the first thought that popped up in his mind.

"I Nizuki Gabriel, of the Light of the Lord, now command this dark spirit to depart from this mortal youth, Yugi Moto!" Nizuki said in a voice that was as deep as the ocean and as high as the whistling wind.

Yugi didn't even have the time to scream before Nizuki's mighty weapon whipped through the air and right into his wrists. It glided through the flesh like a ghost, bringing along with it the disgusting bleeding and cut tendrils of what Yugi figured must have been the demon parasite.

The body-parts of the demon were flicked off Nizuki's blade and the angel turned her weapon around for another pass.

It took nine whole passes before the head of the disgusting little sucker was finally pulled out. Yugi only saw the almost roach like face for a second before the thing burst in a disgusting explosion of inky black blood and sticky purple goop.

"YUCK!" Yugi wailed, jumped off the couch and shaking his wrists like crazy.

Nizuki sighed heavily, stabbing a single twitching tendril with her sword, and then collapsed to her knees obviously exhausted.

"Pheew, I am definitely out-of-shape if it took this much effort to take out a parasite," Nizuki panted heavily as she dismissed her sword into the elements.

Nero popped out from his hiding place and bounded over to Nizuki's side.

"Nizuki-nee, are you okay? You not really hurt bad are-"

Nizuki just patted Nero's side reassuringly with one hand and weakly rose to her feet.

"That took more energy than I had expected to use in a month here on earth," Nizuki moaned.

"I'm sorry," Yugi said as he sheepishly put his wrist-guards back on and buttoned his shirt up again.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Nizuki smiled reassuringly. "You did nothing wrong, I was the one who didn't use enough foresight to plan my day correctly. I'm going back to the attic to pray and recharge . . .um would you and Nero mind cleaning up this mess?"

Nero and Yugi looked over to the wall beside the couch and noticed it was completely soaked with demon juices.

"Ewww," Nero and Yugi blanched.

Nizuki laughed warmly and stumbled off up the stairs.

"We can't let Ryou come home to this mess. He'd cut us up into meaty little cubes then bake us into a pie to get rid of the evidence," Yugi wailed.

"EEEEEEWWWWW!!" Nero blanched. Yugi laughed more freely than he had all week. He felt so relieved now that his deepest darkest secret was no longer his to bear.

"Let's go get the cleaning supplies from the kitchen," Yugi said taking Nero's hand in his own and turning to the door Nizuki had come in through. He figured that room had probably been the kitchen though he wasn't sure.

"Okay," Nero smiled warmly giving Yugi's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Just by the way Nero was so willing to drop the conversation about Yugi's scars and get on with life made Yugi think that Nero was going to be one heck of a guardian angel.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RYOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Despite his great reluctance to do so Ryou went to the discount gym right after school got out.

It was probably his imagination but the dragon on the building's front seemed to be snarling at him, daring him to try and enter.

"Why oh why am I doing this? I don't have one single confrontational bone in my body," Ryou grumbled as he looked at the building.

He had a gym bad all ready for this. He had his gi, a towel, a water-bottle and a whole range of first-aide items. But being ready materially and being ready psychologically were two different things.

"Bakura. . .is that you Bakura Ryou?" a voice called out from behind him.

Surprised at the unfamiliar voice addressing him Ryou turned around to come face to face with Darrin Zubarro.

Just like the last time Ryou had seen him the man was unhealthily handsome looking. His dark brown hair curled over one half of his face like a sheet of silk. His emerald eyes glittered like the precious stones they shared their shade with.

He was dressed in another button up shirt today, this one the same green as his eyes. And on his legs were a pair of faded jeans that looked so tight that Ryou figured there couldn't be any room underneath for underwear.

And horror of horrors the man was carrying a gym-bag just like Ryou was.

Darrin could be . . .

It couldn't be possible . . .

Nizuki wouldn't put him in a place where . . .

"D-Do you come to this gym too. . .Z-Zubarro-san?" Ryou stammered in horror.

"Yah I do, you mean you go to classes here? How long? If you say more than two years I am going to hang myself, I refuse to believe I've seen you around here before," Zubarro laughed openly.

"I-I just s-started. . .y-yesterday," Ryou blushed fuchsia.

"No kidding? Well I've been coming here for four years; in fact I help the new-comers work on their form. I don't have money to spare on membership fees so the manager makes me work with the newbies as payment. Hey! How about you and I pair up? It's your first class right? I'm sure you'd feel more comfortable working with someone you know."

The last thing Ryou thought Darrin would cause him feel was comfortable. In fact Ryou was pretty sure that as long as Darrin was around Ryou would feel decidedly UN-comfortable.

"O-Oh I-I wouldn't w-want to t-trouble you," Ryou stammered as his face went from fuchsia to maroon.

"No trouble at all," Darrin said wrapping an arm around Ryou's shoulders and stirring his towards the door. "Trust me; once I get through with you karate practice will be the thing you look forward to everyday. Like sex, only less fun."

'_Okay God, if it's you that is doing this I have to say that I REALLY want it to stop,' _Ryou thought hysterically.

"Hey, you okay Bakura? You're face is red enough to make a fire-truck look pale."

Things were going to be very interesting.

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

**Masaka: eyes covered, tail between her legs **is it done, can I open my eyes yet?

**Yami Masaka: **Yes, it's finished you can open your eyes now.

**Jason: sneak glomps Masaka **Come on little writer girl, open your eyes. You did great

**Yami Masaka: death to dog glare **Wha- I just said-

**Masaka: pries eyes open **Hey you're right Jason it is okay!

**Yami Masaka: charges out in a huff **I HATE DOGS!!!!!!!!


	22. The Way An Angel Ages

**Masaka: stance of annoyance **You know, I don't mind getting bad critics. I fact, when done correctly I bad review can be really constructive, the only thing I want to know YamiYugi is…if you are going to all the trouble to review this dang thing…WHY THE HELL DID YOU STAY ANONYMOUS? IF YOU ARE GONNA FLAME ME THEN HAVE THE BALLS TO AT LEAST BE LOGGED IN!!! I don't mind your review, I wouldn't have sent hate-mail back so why, WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYY!!!!!

**Yami Masaka: **That dude said that Nero was acting too cute and that he and Yugi should just bonk each other already and get it over with!! How is that a good bad review? There is a deeper plot growing here and Saka already explained that she's suffered from a plot-bunny explosion!! We know its dragging but we can't be blamed!! We'll go back and hack out the damn arcade chapter to make space if you are all so dang touchy!! And what is wrong with my sexy dream YamiYugi???? Nero was in one wet dream, whoopy freaking do!! There is a difference between Lust and Love and-

**Jason: **Are you two going to moan and groan all day or start on the next chapter?

**Masaka: grumbling **Well I don't know apparently my story is too freaking long and rambles too much. Maybe I should just hack out Ryou and Bakura and stick to Yami and Yugi, oh wait, that's right I can't do that because they have intertwined plots!! I HAVE TWO BIG COUPLES!!!

**Yami Masaka: **We know we veer off the point!! But this is a really difficult story to sum up!!! Think of it as a book! A book in a series even!! We have to introduce characters and problems from scratch to make this work!! Okay maybe the Yami and Yugi zoo date seemed a little out there and didn't seem to accomplish anything, but really it did! Zubarro-san is a very important character AND we needed to talk about the weirdness of Tea and we needed more time for the angels and their partners to get acquainted!!

**Masaka: **DON'T FLAME AT PEOPLE WITHOUT BEING LOGGED IN, IT'S RUDE!!!

**Jason: **Can we just START now???

**Masaka: **Okay, okay…**sigh** when I'm finished with this behemoth I am going to have to do some serious revision and reposting

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Other than being embarrassed to within an inch of his life, nothing really happened during Ryou's first lesson at Chung Fau's Discount Defense Studio.

It was grueling, it made Ryou's muscles ache, but it was just a simple lesson.

Zubarro-san had left him alone luckily, but the instructor had towered over him to make sure every minute Ryou spent in that hell was filled with cardio activity.

It was when Ryou came back to his house that things started to get interesting. He walked in the door to see Yugi and Nero on their knees scrubbing away at what looked like tar marks on his once pristine walls.

Ryou had screamed in shock and Yugi and Nero had begun to apologize profusely. Yugi explained that he had been infected with a demonic bug thing and that Nizuki had cut it out and inadvertently caused the mess.

Ryou had fussed over Yugi, asking if he was all right now, did it hurt, was he going to be okay to go home, until finally Nero had to peel Ryou off.

After a few loosely made promises to keep each other updated about what when on in the world of lights, Nero and Yugi left the house and headed for home.

"Why do I always miss the important stuff?" Ryou pouted out-loud as he watched the two walk away down the street from his living-room window.

"Oh so getting chased by lions and having the nature of demons explained to you by an angel wasn't exciting enough for you?" Nizuki laughed as she walked into the room.

Ryou eeped in embarrassment and whirled around. He began to try verbally defending himself when he noticed Nizuki's appearance.

Not that the girl had ever been particularly dark but now she seemed almost milk white. Her eyes seemed heavy with fatigue and her usual haughty posture was slightly limp.

"Oh! Oh! Tenshi-san! Oh Nizuki, what happened?" Ryou gapped.

"I cut out Yugi's parasite, no big deal," Nizuki sighed, collapsing onto the couch as casual as could be.

"But, Nero acted like. . .I mean I just figured that you would be. . .well. . .you aren't hurt are you?" Ryou fussed nervously.

"I'm fine. Yugi's infection was just a little but deeper than I thought it would be. I guess that green-eyed demon is a lot stronger than I first suspected. Either that . . . or she has an assistant that really knows their stuff. That stupid thing was nearly completely engrained into his heart," Nizuki explained.

Ryou nodded understandingly. Nizuki looked him over with a very parental eye.

"You went to the gym," Nizuki stated plainly.

"Yes I did," Ryou smiled.

"Good. . . only next time. . . avoid the cardio because you stink," Nizuki smirked.

"W-what! Well excuse me!!" Ryou snarled.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ON THE STREET WITH NERO AND YUGI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Despite having one of his greatest fears completely eradicated only a few hours ago Yugi was feeling a little blue.

No matter how much stuff he'd already been through with his little angel pal, nothing had really been done that was getting him any closer to Yami.

Yugi was just adrift in a sea of angelic advice, he guessed. Nizuki was busy trying to tend to her own protectorate's needs as well as trying to fend of some demonic presence that was after them all.

So that left Nero, exclusively, to look after Yugi's 'case'. And that wasn't bad. Yugi really loved Nero. He couldn't think of anyone else he'd rather have by his side during all this.

But still . . . Nero was all peaches and cream . . . and that wasn't much help when it came to nabbing yourself a soul-mate.

"Yugi-sama get all moody again, what's wrong?" Nero asked.

"Well. . .nothing I guess. . .I mean not it's something it's just. . .Nero. . .you have really good insight to people's emotions, can't you tell what Yami thinks of me? I mean really thinks of me, like whether he thinks of me as a kid brother or something . . .else," Yugi begged.

Nero looked at Yugi a long moment then closed his emerald eyes in concentration. Yugi took the angel's elbow to stir him around the sidewalk obstacles while the boy meditated.

"Yami-san's thoughts are. . .confusing. It's like they are not always his own. Sometimes I think I sense that he cares for you more than anything in whole world and other times. . .he cannot think of anything or anyone besides Tea."

"Oh," Yugi said tonelessly as he dropped Nero's arm.

"B-But Nero is sure there is still hope!" Nero gapped.

"Yah. I know, always hope; heaven's promise and all that," Yugi sighed.

"Yugi-sama," Nero said grabbing Yugi's arm and yanking his to a full stop. Yugi was surprised at the strength in the boy's seemingly plump little arms.

"Yugi-sama doesn't take Nero seriously. I understand that, Nero doesn't take Nero seriously. . .but I AM an angel and I DO have a better perception of the way things work than you do. I know I act naïve, and I know that to a certain degree I AM naïve. . .but I know that Yami-san really and truly from the depths of his heart and soul cares for Yugi-sama. You cannot give up because I know that you and Yami-san would be perfect together, like perfect balance of light and dark, like twilight or dawn!"

Yugi couldn't help but stare at Nero in shock. Normally the boy seemed to well. . .chibi. . .but right then at that moment the boy looked older than the ages and just as wise.

"Nero. . ." Yugi gapped.

"And Nero KNOWS that Yugi-sama is tired of waiting. Yugi-sama feels like he should just give up already and let icky Tea have Yami. Yugi-sama feels like he cannot win this fight nor would he know how to BEGIN fighting!! But I can't let you give up! I CAN'T! Your happiness is the only thing that Nero cares about! More than getting back to Heaven! More than getting guardianship license, more than SINGING! And I won't let you give up on your chance for ultimate happiness! I WON'T! I WON'T! I WON'T!!!"

If either of the two boys had been paying attention to such things (which they weren't) they would have noticed that Nero's wings, faded and nearly invisible as they were at the moment, give a strong twitch as strength began to return to them.

And if they were paying attention to such things (which they weren't) they would have noticed the absolute childishness of Nero's frame slide off a little as the boy grew an inch taller.

You see, Nero was only stating a half-truth when he said angels only age when a human sees them. What Nero had MEANT to say was that angels can only look as adult as they really are when a human recognizes that power within them. Angels can only be adult when a human sees them as an adult.

And Yugi was beginning to see Nero as a fully grown angel, more than ready to take on his guardianship of the meek hearted people of the world.

". . . Nero . . ." Yugi sighed almost breathlessly. The boy stared at Nero's tear-filled eye and wobbling bottom lip for a moment longer then laughed and pulled Nero close to him. "Okay! You got me! No giving up on Yami! Ever! But if I'm going to try and catch Yami's interest . . .I think I'll have to do something more drastic then just avoid Yami and hope he gets jealous."

"Yugi-sama. . .Nero has an idea for that too," Nero blushed prettily.

"Yah? What?" Yugi asked.

"I think Yugi-sama should sing."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BAKURA (**Masaka: **no I haven't forgotten this idiot) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Being the incarnation of an ancient evil while trying to live in a small city was a pretty damn hard thing to do.

Bakura wanted to rampage through the streets, spilling blood and taking souls. He wanted to steal and plunder like he did in his glory days, causing mass havoc and heartbreak until everyone in the world knew his name and spoke it with fear

. . .but he couldn't.

Bakura couldn't live the life he had before the Millennium Ring took hold of him. He couldn't live the life he'd had. . . before Ryou.

It wasn't like he hadn't tried either. Right after Ryou stupidly let him come back (he'd never admit he had been happy beyond belief that his other-half had let him return) the ex-tomb robber had gone on a crime spree to end all crime sprees.

The entire city was affected. At least one thing had been nabbed from every house or business. Bakura was personally very proud of the laptop he'd nabbed from the KC building.

Bakura had also mugged countless people. He never went as far as to kill someone (he didn't think the gods would let him get away with that again) but he had left some people with disabilities at least.

The dark voice that Bakura had harbored since he was just a little scruffy-haired brat had been the only company he had needed or wanted.

All he wanted was for that dark voice within him to be as manically happy as he was. . .

And then. . .he did the most stupid thing of his life and he tried to attack Ryou directly.

That damn boy. Bakura wasn't sure what it was about him but when Bakura had struck Ryou to the ground and damn near tore the kid's back off. . . the dark voice had completely disappeared and Bakura had felt alone and worse than that he had felt. . .guilty.

No, better put, he'd felt panicked.

Bakura had actually stooped so low as to call the hospital for help. He'd cussed out the paramedics for taking so long, he'd ridden in the ambulance to the hospital, he'd filled out Ryou's insurance forms (he HAD made sure to memorize all the important 'modern day bull-crap' that officially gave him and his host life) and he stayed at the boy's bedside all the while he was unconscious.

He didn't apologize to Ryou, didn't try to act nicer to Ryou. He just . . . didn't damage the boy as much.

Without the dark voice in his head Bakura had felt . . .

He had been with that darkness so long he didn't know how to act without it. He didn't know what he wanted to do on his own. He didn't even know if he liked what he had been doing.

After Ryou had gotten back to full-health Bakura's little dark-voice crept back inside his head and the dark thief could just forget all the weirdness of living without it. He could just pretend that he had never felt like . . . like maybe he shouldn't be so brutal . . . and that he should get over his hatred.

He could. . .but he didn't forget.

Now-a-days Bakura was trying to fill his days with a more modern form of darkness. He was into drinking and sex, scandals and drugs.

Bakura had tried some of the harder stuff right out, cocaine, heroine, crystal meth, and E (whatever the hell that stood for).

After one or two hit of each Bakura had decided that it wasn't for him. All the needles and straws and pipes and crap just seemed like too much of a hassle.

So Bakura stuck to marijuana and booze. If taken right Bakura could use that junk all day and still break the nose of any punk that dared to mess with him.

And yet . . . even this lifestyle was beginning to wear on Bakura.

He didn't like alcohol or drugs. He just wanted to do something, anything, that was taboo. It made him feel like a punk teenager though. He was beginning to feel like . . . like . . . well the modern phrase for it was 'a rebel without a cause.'

Bakura was just filled with such darkness (that never shut the hell up for a second). Bakura felt like he was going to go insane soon unless he figured out how he could either appease this darkness or just get it pulled the hell out of him.

With all these depressing thoughts in his head Bakura made his way to a back alley bar that didn't have the alcohol he liked but made up for it by being filled to the gills with scum that were always looking for a fight.

Ryou didn't know it but it was because of Bakura's many dirty dealings in dives like this that the utility bill was always paid on time.

Using what little power he had left Bakura dipped into the shadows and walked over to a back-booth completely invisible to all but the select few mortals who have Gifts for seeing things usually unseen.

The white-haired bandit snatched a bottle of whiskey of some slobbering blonde's table (along with several shot glasses that looked more or less clean) and sprawled across his chosen bench.

'_This is pathetic. I need to something of quality darkness soon or I am going to lose my freaking mind,' _Bakura thought as he poured and down a shot.

The white-haired thief continued to drink for a while until he noticed someone enter the bar.

He was so slammed at the moment he could have seen Elvis walk in and probably not be able to identify him (no that such a thing would be all that unusual for a spirit who'd been born WAY before the time of The King), but somehow Bakura was sure. . . just somehow SURE that the newest figure was Tea.

'_What the hell is the Pharaoh's Concubine doing in this dump?' _Bakura thought to himself.

He didn't have another moment to contemplate before a handsome waiter (Bakura was an equal-opportunist bed-hopper. Whatever it was, if it moved too slowly it was Bakura's to hump) came up with the weirdest looking bottle of alcohol that Bakura had ever seen.

It was a dark green glass that had spikes on it.

"What the-" Bakura started to ask.

"Abaddon's Fire Schnapps, courtesy of the lady at the end of the bar," the man laughed warmly.

Bakura knew what that laugh meant. Some old hag was trying to bag him. Just great, this was exactly what he needed! Like his problems with Danu (A/N: the drug punk from a few chapters back) weren't bad enough.

Still. . .no point wasting good booze.

Without so much as a word to the waiter Bakura whipped the bottle off the tray, poured himself a few overflowing glass and knocked the glass back.

The liquor's flavor on his lips was unlike anything else that Bakura had ever tasted. It was sort of like cinnamon but. . . hotter, like fire.

And there was a metallic taste to the drink as well. Like. . .like fresh-spilled blood.

And something else too . . .something. . .something that was powerful enough to cause Bakura, Domino City's greatest drunk, to collapse forward across the table in a daze.

"Sir? Sir? Are you okay?" the waiter asked.

Bakura rolled his head around to look across the room. He saw that figure that he swore was Tea talk briefly with a much shorter female figure before ducking out of the bar.

'_This taste. . . what is this taste?' _Bakura asked himself.

"Sir, I am just going to check your pockets for identification, okay? To see if there is someone I can call to get you a ride home, alright?" the waiter said as he reached closer to the slowly blacking out ex-tomb-robber.

'_Shadows!' _Bakura realized as his sight-range shrunk and his sense started to gray out. _'That drink tastes like shadows.'_

And the last thing he saw was a pair of green eyes.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**Masaka: **Nobody worry. The idiot is fine. Nothing is going to happen to him . . .for a while anyway

**Yami Masaka: **Yah! From this point on, actually, we're going to pull back from Bakura, Ryou and Nizuki. We are going to mention their actions in passing but the next big story point will involve Yugi and the KAREOKE CLUB!!!

**Masaka: eyes sparkling **Oh yes, I do so love that club!

**Yami Masaka: **Who wouldn't the club guys are great **smiles wickedly **and it is a great angst-riddled battle-ground for self-expression.


	23. Shadow Addiction

**Masaka: gapping slack-jawed like a freaking idiot** Okay seriously Zypher Evans! Not cool! Not cool at all! I bet you are one of those super freak plot geniuses that figures out the ending to EVERYTHING!! I bet you figured out the ending to Sixth Sense the first time you watched it too! Huh!

**Yami Masaka: **What was wrong with the last chapter? No, really, no snide commentary here. What was wrong with it (besides the fact that it was stitched together out of a thousand different bits that HAD to be brought into the story)? Did you not like it because you've figured the plot out already?

**Masaka: **And thank you for that second response YamiYugi! It was very kind of you to explain yourself! **twitching **I have critic issues too so don't even worry about it

**Yami Masaka: shivering miserably **You don't want to be in the same room with her during certain movies she has sooooo many issues! She SCREAMS at the television set or herself! She has IMPOSSIBLE standards and beliefs and it nearly KILLS ME!!!

**Masaka: **ANNNNNNYWAY! I'd like to thank all my many reviewers (and especially those who review more than once) for all their patience and response! I know this story is…long in the making and sometimes as stale as day-old popcorn-

**Yami Masaka: **GROSS!!

**Masaka: **-but this is MY story and it is MY mind that has to work it all out! Sometimes I suck and sometimes I am uber-awesome! If you think you can write it better, please ask to borrow my characters and give it a whirl. Really, I think that would be rather flattering in a weird you-aren't-writer-enough-to-have-earned-these-characters type of a way. ALSO I'd like to warn people out there that these next few chapters will have a flavor of FILLER about them. The thing is I have to skirt through time pretty quickly, not to mention have to drag the YuGiOh boys through some SERIOUS emotional growth…well except for Yami. Yami will remain a big idiot for a long time because that is what makes the plot go on

**Yami: just-sucked-a-lemon look **That hurt in unguarded places

**Yami Masaka: **AND so without FURTHER ado 'Saka and I present for your reading pleasure (or displeasure, whatever your bend) CHAPTER 37!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waking up in strange places wasn't unusual for Bakura at this point in his life. Waking up in a vaguely familiar place with a vaguely familiar face staring at him from only about three inches away was a completely different story.

"JESUS!" Bakura yelled, flailing his limbs to ward off whatever or whoever it was and promptly fell on his ass on the floor.

The pair of chocolate cinnamon eyes leaned back and Bakura was able to recognize the face of that blonde weirdo that Ryou was trying to pass off as his cousin.

Yes, Bakura knew that What's-Her-Name wasn't really his other-half's blood-kin. Ryou was pretty much incapable of lying to Bakura. He always gave it away in some miniscule way that was as glaringly obvious to Bakura as if the boy went and shouted 'Look! Look I'm lying! See? It's not true! None of it! I'm lying!'

What's-Her-Name was probably something more like a …school-mate or something.

Ryou was so stupid in that he was always willing to offer a helping-hand. Bakura knew that it would get his hikari into a heap-load of crap one day, but because experience was the best teacher Bakura didn't interfere.

"That's not exactly the type of exclamation I'd expect to come out of your mouth," the blondie said as she crossed her arms over her non-existent chest and gave him a look that was neither reprimanding nor amused.

"How's 'f--k off'? Does that work better for you?" Bakura snarled.

Much to Bakura's dismay the girl actually smiled at that. Just what he wanted, some stupid girl laughing at him while his head felt sore enough to burst. Not.

"Actually, that is more of what I expected," the girl laughed like the babbling waters of the Nile.

Shaking off the wonderful and yet agonizing sensation that laugh filled him with Bakura set himself to the more important matters of hauling his butt off the carpet and summoning shadows to correct whatever damage he had inflicted upon his body.

Oddly the moment the shadows came into existence What's-Her-Name turned and headed towards the kitchen. And odder still her body seemed to …glow…as if she was warding off the shadows in some way.

Bakura didn't allow the peculiarity of blondie to distract him for long. Not when his beloved shadows were crying for his attention.

'_Ignore her; she's not important, only we are important. Only we can make you happy, only we will be here for you always,' _the shadows seemed to croon, and maybe they did.

Unlike baka-no-pharaoh, Bakura was a pretty big magic-user. Thus his addiction was vastly more dangerous and more deeply imbedded that the other yami's.

The only thing that could keep Bakura from using his shadow-powers all the time was to consume lots of mind-numbing substances. And that only worked for a little while.

"Bakura…san?" his other's voice called through the ecstasy of his shadow-bathing.

As if a great drain had been opened somewhere in the Ether all the shadows fled from Bakura's body.

His light was always so good at doing that. Breaking apart his shadows that is. That was another reason why Bakura had pounded the living daylights out of Ryou once before.

Only once.

"What the hell do you want?" Bakura snarled. He only just realized that the shadows had already fixed him up. Swimming around in the darkness any longer would have just been for kicks, not need.

Damn it, that meant that he'd allowed the shadows to control him, make him forget the reason he'd summoned them in the first place. Just freaking fantastic.

"I-I just w-wanted to ask…w-what happened to you. . .last night," Ryou asked. "Zubarro-sempai brought you over and-"

"Who?"

"A-ah! A um…an acquaintance of mine," Ryou flushed. Bakura just snorted. He didn't know why he'd asked in the first place. He didn't care who his other hung around.

"Z-Zubarro-sempai b-brought you back here…l-last night. Apparently you were …u-unconscious in f-front of an abandoned warehouse…h-he thought you were me a-at first," Ryou explained.

'_A warehouse? The last thing I remember is drinking that weird alcohol last night…weird…Damn it, I hope it wasn't some crazy organ-snatcher or something…last thing I need is to find out I'm missing a kidney,' _Bakura thought sarcastically as he dragged a hand through his very tangled hair.

His whole body felt hot. It was from the shadows. Every time he used them his temperature spiked. Thus why Bakura was always taking aspirin.

Ryou probably didn't know anything about that. The boy probably thought it was for pain. He probably didn't know about his shadow addiction either.

'_And he doesn't need to! The kid has enough crap to deal with, no need to add your whiny issues to it,' _Bakura's seldom heard inner-self croaked.

That little voice was very often neglected in favor of the shadow's call. Bakura was actually impressed the little thing was still around at all.

"My damn head is killing me," Bakura snapped meaningfully.

"I'll go get you some Tylenol," Ryou said turning to go into the kitchen. Bakura reached out a hand and grabbed his other-half's wrist.

An electric tingle shot through his body at the touch. That was familiar. Bakura always felt that damn feeling when he touched Ryou.

He felt it but ignored it. Ryou meant NOTHING to him. He only needed the boy around as a means of cash and shelter.

"I don't want any f--ing pills. Take me to my room," Bakura snarled.

Ryou looked at him for a long moment then sighed. Bakura didn't bother to wonder what for.

"Well then at least I could get you some water, or a bath? I could-"

"I just want to sleep," Bakura hissed darkly.

As he was prone to do whenever Bakura got threatening, Ryou went silent and did exactly what Bakura ordered him to.

The two white-haired men stumbled up the stairs, Ryou having to pause for a breather so many times that Bakura just barely withheld the need to strike him, and into Bakura's room.

Like the good little servant that he was Ryou helped Bakura out of his boots and coat and even went so far as to pull down the covers.

'_Stupid idiot is always too nice to people,' _Bakura thought.

For his pains, Bakura gave his hikari a very hard smack across the face and a threat against the boy for daring to enter his room, invited or no.

The look Ryou gave him almost made Bakura want to take back what he'd done. Almost, but not quite. The boy was too nice. He needed to be reminded that helping people would only screw him over in the end. Even if it was helping his other-half.

Without a single other word Ryou darted out of the room and Bakura was left alone.

Just how he preferred it.

No one could hurt him if he was alone. And he couldn't hurt anyone else in return either.

**IT'SRYOUTIMEEVERYBODYYOUKNOWYOUWANTEDITHE'SJUSTTHEBESTBISHIE**

'_I hate it when he does that,' _Ryou said as he watched his other bathing in the darkness that gave him power.

Nizuki had called him down from upstairs just a moment ago, asking him if he would please handle Bakura.

The angel had been very kind in helping Zubarro-sempai drag his other-half inside late last night, even though it was obvious Nizuki would rather not touch the jerk. But apparently swirling shadows was something that went past Nizuki's tolerance threshold.

The strawberry-blonde had refused to deal with Bakura anymore after he'd let the shadows out, choosing instead to retreat to the kitchen and make breakfast.

She'd been very courteous in handing over the responsibility. She'd even said she would supervise their interactions if Ryou wanted, and if the other white-haired male did anything violent Nizuki would step in immediately.

Ryou turned her down on that. Despite all evidence pointing to the contrary Ryou didn't mind looking after his other-half.

Ryou didn't_ like_ hanging around the darker-boy because of a mixture of feelings including pity, worry, fear and anger. But Ryou didn't _mind _tending to his other-half's needs either.

Bakura was his only real family. Well…maybe that was unfair. Ryou still had his father, who he loved and who loved him in return.

But Bakura was the only family he had close contact with on a regular basis. And family was important to Ryou. Being cared for and caring for others was important to Ryou.

"Bakura…san?" Ryou asked curiously.

Despite trying his hardest, Bakura remained distant from him. He was more of a college roommate than another part of his soul. The only interaction they had came from living under the same roof. So Ryou always referred to his other in formal.

"What the hell do you want?" Bakura snarled at him, the haze of magic around him abruptly vanishing.

Ryou felt like running from the room. He didn't want to face Bakura. Bakura was just…stronger than him. And tougher than him. And smarter than him. And…better-looking.

'_Why do I care about this devil? My life would be so much easier without him. Why am I fated to love sadists? First there was Malik, now Bakura…if Zubarro-sempai turns out to be a raving sociopath I would not be at all surprised,' _Ryou thought with reluctance.

Unlike Yugi who had no idea what the thump-thumping of his heart was about, Ryou had always been very aware of his feelings for his dark half. He liked Bakura.

Not quite in that I'd-die-for-you-in-a-moment kind of way that Yugi adored Yami. Ryou would have already been dead a hundred times over if he'd tried to survive his relationship thus-far with Bakura harboring those types of feelings.

Ryou's feelings for Bakura were just…there. They made no sense and never wavered.

Ryou supposed that it was a sort of admiration-based affection. Despite the elder man's many personality faults he was still everything Ryou felt he could not be.

Bakura was unrelenting, unwavering, unafraid, strong, tough, good-looking, able to do just about anything with his hands and able to adapt to anything life threw at him.

Ryou could barely handle the chaos of high-school society; he doubted he could adapt to a whole new century on an entirely different continent like Bakura had done.

"I-I just w-wanted to ask…w-what happened to you. . .last night," Ryou asked. "Zubarro-sempai brought you over and-"

"Who?"

For a moment Ryou was sure his heart was going to stop. He was totally petrified he'd say something stupid that would endanger his beautiful sempai's life.

True there was nothing going on between him and the dark-haired man except maybe a little one-sided flirting but that was still enough to possibly send Bakura off into a rage.

Ryou wasn't single for no reason. His fan-club, as daunting and crazed as it was, put up no challenge for a thousand-year-old magically endowed ex-tomb robber and former Lord of Darkness Incarnated.

'_Don't say too much, Ryou,' _the hikari told himself, '_don't ramble on about him and you'll be fine. If you just say as little as possible, Bakura probably won't ask questions.'_

"A-ah! A um…an acquaintance of mine," Ryou flushed. Bakura only snorted.

Ryou felt his breath come back to him. Bakura didn't care. And that was good. Even if it did make Ryou feel a little neglected, it was still a good thing.

Ryou loved his other, but at the same time was terrified out of his mind by him.

"Z-Zubarro-sempai b-brought you back here…l-last night. Apparently you were …u-unconscious in f-front of an abandoned warehouse…h-he thought you were me a-at first," Ryou explained. He forced himself to hold back exclamations of how worried he was when his cell-phone had started ringing in the middle of the night, and how much his hands had shaken as memories of the phone call about Amane and his mother had rattled around in his brain.

He especially didn't mention how he'd paced the floor waiting for Zubarro to come over with a mixture of glee and horror.

"My damn head is killing me," Bakura snapped meaningfully. Ryou snapped out of his thoughts and nodded.

"I'll go get you some Tylenol," Ryou said turning to go into the kitchen. Bakura reached out a hand and grabbed his other-half's wrist.

An electric tingle shot through his body at the touch. Ryou wasn't surprised. He'd always felt like that around Bakura. Another reason why he couldn't hold himself together around the darker boy. The feelings Bakura rose out of him were too terrifying. The desire was too intense.

"I don't want any f-ing pills. Take me to my room," Bakura snarled.

'_His skin is so hot! He's obviously not healthy,' _Ryou thought in worry. '_I wish he'd let me help him more. I wish he'd help HIMSELF more.'_

Involuntarily a sigh escaped Ryou's lips. "Well "Well then at least I could get you some water, or a bath? I could-"

"I just want to sleep," Bakura hissed darkly. Ryou shoved away the strong desire to just tell his other-half off and nodded.

Despite the vicious and bone-chilling threats thrown his way, Ryou managed to get Bakura upstairs and into his bed without more than a few minutes of tumbling and lurching.

Like a mother tucking a child in for a nap, Ryou pulled off his dark's boots and rolled the elder boy out of his stained trench-coat.

Bakura's hand seemed to fly at him out of nowhere and when it hit his whole body froze in shock.

\Say the word and I flambé his sorry hide\ came Nizuki's instant, almost instinctual response.

//No, no that's okay// Ryou said gently. He didn't want Nizuki's trigger to be tripped either. Even more so than Bakura, Ryou knew Nizuki on the loose was dangerous.

A speckling of self-shock fluttered in from Nizuki and he felt her anger boil down.

\Sorry, I just…I can't stand to see him hit you\

//It's worst when he yells at me. Physical blows heal….the mental blows are a…little more difficult to weather//

"Little girly hikari always playing the coddling mother. I hate how damned stupid you are! I didn't ask for your help, and I sure as hell don't want it. If you need someone to coddle go find yourself a little play-whore. Some bitch who wants to play house with a sissy half-man like you. Get the hell out of my room, you little wimp, and don't you dare ever set foot in here again! This may be your house, but these chambers are completely mine! I you dare set a toe inside again I'll hack you up into little pieces and make your little blonde-friend eat them.'

Ryou flinched at the steely undertone of that statement. With Bakura, you could never be sure if the threats were real or not. Either way it was better not to take any chances.

Ryou unfroze himself from the floor and darted out of the room and down the stairs into the kitchen. Nizuki was waiting at the table with a modest breakfast of quick-fix oatmeal fixed with honey and raspberries…as well as two industrial-sized mugs of coffee.

"You deserve better than him," Nizuki offered in way of a conversation starter. The barest tips of her fingers gently stroked his cheek more daintily than a butterfly and instantly the pain was gone. The cold feeling inside his heart vanished as well.

Ryou flashed the angel a meek smile to show her that he was fine and he slid into a chair at the table.

"…No I don't. You won't think the same but…I am perfectly matched with him. Bakura is…mine…simply put. And I am his…if he'll ever accept me, that is."

Nizuki's face got tight and steely but she just sighed and sat down at the table herself.

Ryou reached out to pick up his mug of coffee but was intercepted by an affectionate hand. Nizuki grasped his hand and squeezed it tightly.

"You're probably right about that. Bakura is your equal opposite…but sometimes I worry that you think he is better than you. Ryou, you are different, but you are just as good. And I think Bakura knows that as well. When you accept yourself I think he'll accept you too. And I pray that you will learn to accept yourself soon."

Ryou's heart fluttered at the affectionate words. He loved his angel. He loved her so much. She made it all better, even when he though nothing was wrong in the first place.

He quickly brushed off the intoxicating and yet still rather painful feeling before he got in too deep.

"…I thought you'd say something more like. 'Bakura is nothing LIKE you! He's more like a bug, in fact, he's just like a bug. Here, follow me up to his room and I'll show you how he twitches just like a squashed cockroach when stabbed through the heart with an angelic sword a hundred-or-so times,'" Ryou responded almost completely seriously.

Nizuki's last vestiges of apathy and annoyance slid away and her usual cocky-loving smirk burst into bloom.

"Well…normally yah, I would say that, and demonstrate it graphically. But, come on, give me some credit. I can back-off a certain subject if I notice it's important to you…sometimes…when I'm in the mood…and I don't actually have to look dog-butt in the face while I do it."

Ryou just rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. Nizuki grinned even more brilliantly and took a sip of her own.

"So what are you going to do today, tenshi?" Ryou asked.

"Well since you asked, I plan to head to Purgatory to check with the census committee about all current earth-assigned demons. Hopefully I'll get the lead I need to find out exactly who or WHAT has been messing with us, and be granted special permission to kill it."

"…You don't have to sound so gleeful about that," Ryou grumbled exhaustedly into his cup.

Nizuki flashed a slightly homicidal grin and began to eat her oatmeal.

**NEROANDYUGIINTHEMORNINGWITHAGRUMPYYAMIOHFEELTHEJOY**

There were times when Yugi thought that Yami and Tea couldn't get anymore disgustingly cutesy in their relationship…and then he was proven wrong.

As a nice morning-after surprise to his terrific day yesterday, the smallest hikari was met early the next morning by a familiar ballerina-in-training on his door-step at freaking SIX-O-FIVE with a basket of muffins and fresh-squeezed juice.

GOD IN HIS HEAVEN!! Of all things! A BASKET of MUFFINS!! A FREAKING MIXED BASKET OF FREAKING MIXED MUFFINS WITH FREAKING FRESH-FREAKING-SQUEEZED JUICE!!!

Apparently Tea had come over to 'apologize' to her love, for not being 'thoughtful' enough yesterday. Yugi wasn't quite sure what Tea had meant by that only that for the entire length of breakfast Tea had insisted on treating him like a child that needed constant tending.

(A/N: Super spectacular psychological attack here. This is Tea's response to Yami's statement yesterday that Yugi needed looking after. To make sure that Yami doesn't get to the right conclusions about his feelings towards his hikari, Tea has come over to mess her koibito up and make him think that the feelings are just parental. AND at the same time she's really ticking Yugi off!! Oh feel the evil got-to-hate-yet-marvel-at-it genius that is the great witch Tea Gardener!)

Yugi had never, in the entirety of his whole school-career including the blissful days of kindergarten, been happier to leave for school then he had that morning.

The second the clock struck seven-fourteen Yugi grabbed his school-bag and Nero (who had slept over again that night much to Yami's irritation) and marched to the bus-stop like someone was paying his to get there.

And now here he was at the bus-stop, on time (which of course meant the bus was going to come late) trying to not pay attention to the way too public PDA-ing couple beside him.

"Hey, Tea ya need ta come up for air sometime," Jou commented around a mouthful of apple as he watched Tea give Yami the mother of all hickeys

(A/N: Okay, say it with me, EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!)

Much to Yugi's disappointment Joey was still avoiding him. Not openly or really consciously avoiding him, but still not acting normal either.

Joey had chosen to lean up against one bus-stop posts, which coincidentally was the furthest spot away from Yugi. And every time Nero did something like squeeze Yugi's hand or give him a random yet somehow needed embrace, Joey would take a vicious bite of his apple and turn his head up to the sky.

Yugi hated that this was how his best-friend, the guy he'd give his life for and vice-versa, was acting towards him just because of some stupid mental-issues the blonde had.

It just didn't seem fair that after the ridiculous junk that the two friends had gone through, that a mundane issue like sexuality was tearing them apart.

Why couldn't it have just been a shadow-realm issue?

Like Dark Magician envy?

Yah, that was a good alternative. If Joey was suffering from Dark Magician envy at least the hot-headed blonde would be going out of his way to stab insults at Yugi. At least they would have had THAT level of communication.

Not this stupid we're-still-talking-and-everything-is-fine-except-it-really-isn't-but-I-can't-admit-to-it-because-then-I'll-have-to-final-admit-to-some-personal-issues-of-my-own fake communication where Joey was pretending like he was acting normal.

/Yugi-sama, that is the twentieth ant crushed by you in last …minute. What is wrong?/ Nero's sweet, yet-really-unwanted, yet undeniable voice crept into Yugi's head.

Because he was a teenager, and because he was an angstying teenager who felt that it was his right to angst against the world, Yugi didn't respond and continued to squish poor helpless bugs into the cement.

/I will do super cute puppy-dog eye look at you if you no talk/

Yugi's shoulder twitched nervously but he continued to ignore the angel.

/And I will whimper and I will cry and not talk to you during lunch and-/

//OKAY! Okay! Sheesh! No need to get like that!// Yugi finally relented.

Nero, unlike Nizuki, didn't respond to the victory in any way other than to nod his head in a motion for Yugi to start explaining.

Perhaps Nero was the better angel for that humility but Yugi wasn't going to comment on it, least he chance bringing down the wrath of an Excalibur-wielding strawberry upon himself.

//It's…Joey…He's been acting weird towards me lately because he found out that I'm…that I happen to like…that I happen to be-//

/Bi-sexual in sexual orientation and in a relationship with a child who is supposedly younger than yourself?/ Nero finished with a seriousness to his voice that made Yugi gap like a big-mouth bass.

//Did you just swallow a dictionary?//

/Nero can talk adult-like if he wants…I just don't want to/ Nero responded with a tongue-in-cheek tauntingness that was better suited to Nizuki.

"Well don't do it again, that really freaked me out! I'm used to you being super cute; you can't just change on a dime like that!" Yugi responded verbally.

Predictably, because Yugi responded out-loud to a mental conversation everyone had to turn and stare at him. Yugi's ears went cherry red in embarrassment.

/Now Yugi-sama see how much easier it is to just accept Nero and his advice compared to trying to speak against it? If you just agree with me you not say stuff that gets you weird looks/ Nero chuckled.

//Yah-yah, alright// Yugi relented.

Just then the bus drove up. Yugi got on it without another thought, completely missing the concerned look his favorite pair of crimson eyes gave him.

**QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ**

**Masaka: **OKAY I HAVE TO IMPART A SPECIAL MESSAGE EVERYONE SO LISTEN UP

**(All partying/hanging-out bishonens, bishojos, muses and muse-dogs stop and listen)**

**Masaka: **There is someone we have to give all our love to right now! Tie-dyed Trickster!! She is the most awesome reviewer to ever review anyone's story EVER!!

**Yami Masaka: Drunk on soda per usual after a hard-to-print chapter **WOOOOHOOO!! YAH!! LOVE YA BABE!! HAVE A NERO ON US!! **Forks over a freshly cloned Nero dressed in his cute little angel robes**

**(my) Nero: **I forgot how fru-fru Nero used to dress

**Yugi: **Actually I thought you looked really cute in your robes, when I first met you **gets glomped by Nero**

**Yami: Sulking childishly **Well I think he looked like a girl

**Nizuki: Holding Excalibur underneath Yami's chin business-end up **What was that you were saying?

**Yami: **GAH!! Nothing! Nothing at all!!

**Atsushi: Clustered around the other One-Time OC characters **I mean, Masaka told me I'd have an important part and I've had what, only two lines? Three tops

**Darrin: **Well at least your character doesn't have to dress up in a foam animal costume

**Shark girl from the zoo: **I DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER LINES!! ALL I'LL BE REMEMBERED FOR _IS _MY FOAM COSTUME!!!

**Everyone: **From the cast and writers of Heavenly Interventions we wish to give you, Tie-dyed Trickster, our most heart-felt gratitude and appreciation! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

**Trika: Falls in from the rafters **Ouch! Hey! Wait, what about me? I haven't said thanks yet

**CHAPTER END**


	24. Purgatory and persistance

**Note: **Earlier in this story I made a slight error with names. Namely the two Karaoke Club Founders. The red-heads name is SUPPOSED to be Atsushi Mamio and the dirty-blonde's name is SUPPOSED to be Mitsuko Kichi! That's all!

**Masaka: **I know this story is weird, I know it's long!! I know it, I know it, I know it!!! But in my defense my characters are being really picky! They love to dance around and make interesting stories in my head, but they also like to veer off from the story-plot. I will try to control them, but no promises

**Yami Masaka: **Also, if you think this plot is too see-through well then screw you, YOU write a better plot!!

**Masaka: **YAMI!!

**Jason: Yawns, stretches and scratches his head **Mmmph, okay people, listen up, religion is a touchy subject and Masaka DOES have to cover some points during her story because it pertains to angels, so if you are easily offended then please leave this story now

**Nero and Yugi: **NOW ON WITH THE SHOW!!

**WE'RESTARTINGWE'RESTARTINGTHISISTHESTARTTHATWE'RESTARTINGWOOHOOO**

Heaven is too complex for the average living person to understand it. We are used to good and evil and shades in-between on Earth, but only good exists in Heaven.

Purgatory is a little bit better. Unlike the Catholic vision of it, THE Purgatory is a place of self-redemption. Those that are too divided between Good and Evil to land in either place, or those that just feel they cannot face His presence without doing a little more good work are found in Purgatory.

It is the great information center, sort of like an official Hall of Records. It is also a little like a police station, and a little like a court-house.

But still, since it is THE Purgatory it is more incredible than a single person is really comfortable with thinking about.

So to explain it better I will write as though Nizuki is simply going through a normal office-building, thus taking away the whole 'brain-implosion' problem.

Nizuki's fingers drummed absentmindedly against her thigh as she leaned against the desk, waiting for the angel at the computer to finish her searching.

In Earth time, Nizuki had only been waiting for a minute or so, but in Heaven time Nizuki had already been in the Purgatory office for forty-five minutes.

Nizuki had expected as much. Her case was intimately involved with the Millennium Item Legacy, and the M.I.L. ALWAYS screwed things up.

Why Nizuki's last great case, for example. . . No, no, that was not something Nizuki was going to dwell upon. She didn't have the patience for it right now.

"It's peculiar, there seems to be no High File for this particular situation," the desk-bound angel sighed, taking off her glasses and rubbing her laser-green eyes.

Nizuki knew that kind of gesture was something an angel picked up only from other mortal-bound spirits. Apparently this angel had been working here for a while.

"Are you sure?" Nizuki asked, even though she knew what the answer was going to be.

"I'm sorry Gabriel-Nizuki; I can give you all the information for your protectorate and his friends and even the listing of current Earth-bound Demons, but there is no warrant or case information available in the High File System…apparently He-" both angels stopped to shiver, "-doesn't feel that things should be changed."

"Silver clouds," Nizuki grumbled. "His vision is so great…but I cannot see it."

"It will all make sense in time…it always does," the desk-angel smiled reassuringly.

Nizuki nodded, snagged a handful of candies from the bowl on the angel's desk, and then turned to leave.

She only got a few steps away before she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.

"Gabriel-Nizuki! Gabriel-Nizuki! Wait right there!"

A nervous tingle rolled down Nizuki's spine and she turned around to see her old teacher towering in front of her.

"Oh…hiya Gabriel Trainer Nakagato," Nizuki said with all the distracting charm and happiness she could muster.

Nakagato was not moved, not that Nizuki had expected him to be. Nakagato was an Old-World type angel. He had the whole biblical force of God thing going on for him.

He was seven-feet tall, not an inch shorter, and the crown of his head was topped with an incredible glowing light. Nakagato's hair was pitch-black and fell in almost ringlet waves to the guardian's shoulder. His shoulders were wide and muscular, as was the rest of his body. His skin glowed like a copper penny.

It was his eyes though that always gave away his true power. Unlike most angels who chose an eye-color for their own and stuck with it, Nakagato's eyes were…well white would be closest to accurate. It was like Nakagato's eyes were high-beams of heavenly light. If anyone other than another angel looked into his eyes too long they developed headaches and cold-shivers.

Nakagato also insisted on walking around in a monk-esque robe of white silk and wearing no shoes. It was better than him walking around as his bare essence of a beam of light. If he did that even angels started to get pains in their heads.

Nizuki could never quite figure out why Nakagato stayed in the position of angel-trainer. After all Nakagato had no great love of cherubs. The guardian could get transferred to another division of Heaven if he asked. But Nakagato never asked for a transfer.

"Don't 'hiya' me, Gabriel-Nizuki," Nakagato stated, his eyes drilling right into Nizuki's own eyes.

"Um, s-sorry…sir. Um, c-can I ask what you're doing here in Purgatory?"

"What HALF of me is doing down in Purgatory, you mean. I DO have angels to teach, Gabriel-Nizuki, so I can't ever completely leave Heaven," the guardian said, his voice shaded with the faintest touch of arrogance and a great splash of joy.

'_I know he gets to stay in paradise all the time, but still he doesn't have to rub it in,' _Nizuki thought more in exasperation than annoyance.

"Yes, of course, my mistake," Nizuki smiled.

"Hmmph, I was just trying to get information on Gabriel," –Nizuki knew Nakagato was talking about Nero- "and where he might have gone to, but apparently there is no High File on him."

Nizuki found this surprising. She could understand that His Holiness may want to hide some things about demons from her, to possibly keep her from turning her focus from Ryou onto the darklings or something similar, but for His Greatness to have hidden information about Nero? That was just out and out peculiar.

"Oh well…His vision is greater than ours," Nizuki shrugged easily.

"Yes, it is," Nakagato solemnly agreed. Nakagato wasn't an angel to ever take God's grace lightly. Nizuki both admired and worried about the guardian for that.

"So um…is there something you wanted to tell me, or did you just want to-"

"You were always especially close to Gabriel," –again Nizuki knew Nakagato was talking about Nero, the angel language just made that distinction so clear- "and I was wondering if, perhaps, you had any ideas where he might me."

Now this was tricky. Nizuki couldn't outright lie. That sort of behavior was forbidden. She could make up false-stories as her earth identity demanded. That was a new compromise that had been made when God had decided to send down no more prophets. But lying to one angel about another angel was something that was not permitted, and angelically physiologically speaking not even possible.

"I um…have a lot of ideas," Nizuki admitted. Truthfully she did. Since she wasn't looking through her compact mirror spell she didn't know EXACTLY where Nero was…but she had a lot of most probably accurate ideas of where he was.

"He didn't tell you where he was going?" Nakagato asked.

"No," Nizuki said. Nero hadn't told her he was leaving Heaven. They'd just come across each other on Earth.

"…Hmm…very well then, that's all I wanted to know," Nakagato sighed. Nizuki bit her lip to keep the full truth from bursting from her lips. Last thing Yugi needed was for Nakagato-sensai to burst into his home as a pillar of fire and glory.

No, it would be best for Nero to just hurry up with the wish-granting then scoot his cute little bootie back to the open-embrace of paradise.

"Ah good then, well um…I'll be going now…see you when I see you…later," Nizuki said timidly before getting herself the 'Hell out of Dodge' as people would say.

Her last glimpse of Purgatory was of Nakagato looking heavenward, with unhidden anxiety clearly creased across his brow.

**BACKTOEARTHBACKTOEARTHBACKTOEARTHWEGOFASTERTHANANARROWFROMCUPID'SBOW**

The school day went by, marginally uneventful. Nero had shown up at lunch causing the expected typhoon of girls to come over, and Ryou had been maliciously smacked in the face with a volley-ball during P.E. leading Nizuki to cause some 'trouble' for the offending boy and his pals, but other then that nothing much had happened.

Yugi stretched lazily as he headed over to his locker, completely at peace with himself at the moment. He was in that state of mind where things are all just a cozy haze.

The tri-colored haired teen walked up to his locker and casually undid the lock. He put away his books and closed the door just as Nero came bounding up, a bundle of sunshine in human-form as always.

"You ready to go to club meeting, Yugi-sama?" Nero asked happily.

Yugi banged his head into the unyielding metal of his locker and the lovely haze left his mind. He had forgotten all about Nero's 'suggestion' and all that it implied.

Why? WHY was he so completely incapable of saying no to Nero? Was it the puppy-eyes? Was he, Yugi Moto, Master of the Weeping Amethyst Stare, really that weak?

Or was it Nero's quivering bottom lip?

Or was it Nero's little sorrow-shivering shoulders?

Or maybe it wasn't anything about the begging look at all, maybe it was Nero's smile and how Yugi never wanted it to fade, or maybe it was Nero's… Yugi abruptly cut off his train of thought.

This sappy dissertation of Nero's good features wasn't going to help get him out of this, so why tempt himself into a nose-bleed?

"Um, I guess I am Nero…it's just…um well-"

"It's just what Yugi-sama?" Nero said crossing his arms and looking almost calculatingly at Yugi.

A nervous bead of sweat rolled down Yugi's cheek at the look. That look was way too reminiscent of how he looked before tearing apart a duelist challenger.

"It's just…well club doesn't start for an hour, remember we were in detention before we ran across the club," Yugi amended quicklky.

"Oh! That is right, Yugi-sama! I forgot! How about we go get snack then?" Nero smiled, clapping his hands together.

"T-that sounds good," Yugi laughed nervously. Privately he thought_, 'I'll do anything as long as it keeps me away from that club!'_

Unfortunately for Yugi, his plan of avoiding club by distracting Nero wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Because also as soon as Yugi turned his back to leave with Nero a fairly familiar shape seemed to morph out of the shadows and flash a not altogether comfortable (or sane) smile. And the figure's green eyes sparkled with way too much eagerness for anyone's health.

"Now's my chance."

**YESIT'SALREADYASCENECHANGEIKNOWTHATWASVERYSHORTBUTTHAT'SJUSTHOWITGOES**

Nizuki walked along side Ryou just the street towards the dojo. Even though her presence was comforting and warm, Ryou almost wished she was gone.

The reason for this sudden change in heart? Two words, Zubarro Darrin.

Ryou's sempai was really, really attractive and every time Ryou got anywhere near the dark-haired man his face lit up like a Roman Candle. The last thing he wanted was for Nizuki to see that expression on his face. She would never, EVER let him live it down.

But as they walked, Ryou began to get this distinct impression that he could wave Yugi's underwear in front of the strawberry-blonde's face right now and she wouldn't even start. Her normally vivacious amber eyes were glassy and her normally cheerful and mischievous face was contorted with worry.

"T-Tenshi-sama?" Ryou asked curiously. Nizuki blinked rapidly as her train of thought was violently derailed.

She shook her head then turned to her protectorate with her usual smile.

"What's eatin' ya, Ry-chan?" she asked.

"You seem…worried. Is there anything wrong?" Ryou asked. Nizuki's eyes immediately went glassy again.

"Nothing serious …it's just…it's simply…I'm worried about Nero's position here on earth. He isn't a guardian angel like I am. He doesn't belong here. He needs to grant Yugi's wish and then return to our heavenly home…if he doesn't hurry…I don't like to think of the consequences."

"Having permission to come to Earth must be really important, huh," Ryou said sympathetically.

"It's vital. Without the license Heaven can't keep track of your efforts and cannot allow you any help. Without a license you can't get a sunlight bottle, or cupids, or spare wings if something goes irreversibly wrong."

That last item caused Ryou to stop completely. Unfortunately it was in the middle of the crosswalk.

"Ack! Ry-chan!" Nizuki gulped.

"Replacement…wings…but aren't those-" Ryou said thoughtfully. Nizuki grabbed her protectorate's arm and yanked the boy safely onto the curb just in time to help him avoid a fast-moving convertible.

"RY-CHAN!! Sheesh! Be careful why dontcha! I may be your guardian angel but that doesn't mean you can go walking in traffic!" Nizuki wheezed. Ryou completely ignored her warnings.

"Tenshi-sama! I thought you said that an angel's wings are the extension of their souls! So if an angel gets so hurt they need new wings…"

"Yes…if an angel needs new wings…that means the angel has been grievously wounded…in a way that is far more traumatizing than any flesh wound ever could be," Nizuki said with a wry smile.

"…Nizuki…has something like that…ever happened to you?" Ryou asked timidly.

Nizuki looked at Ryou in shock then looked at the cement. Her look was not one of insult and empathetic sadness…but a look of slight shame and sadness for one's own sake.

"I…Ryou…you must have noticed by now that I am not very angelic. I hit, I rant, I get too involved sometimes and I make dirty jokes," Nizuki sighed.

"Yes but…that's nothing awful," Ryou said gently.

"No, perhaps not, but it is rather…revealing of my faults …You see…a long while ago I was given the job of watching over a human who was caught between becoming a worthy asset for Heaven…and a good recruit for the human legion of Hell. He…we…he was…"

"Is this the same person you've been getting upset over?" Ryou asked.

"What?" Nizuki started in horrified shock. "You think that the idiot is even comparable to Tygris? No! No, not even close Ry-chan! The idiot was a mentally traumatizing case, but he didn't…he didn't hurt me the way…the way Tygris did."

"I'm so sorry to bring it up," Ryou frowned deeply. Nizuki only flashed him a slightly fake smile and gave him a hearty wink.

"Don't get yourself in a twist about this, Ry-chan. The past is the past and nothing can be done about it, except to try and learn to live with it. I may have battle-scars that make cherubs cry but that's not all there is to it. I like my new wings; they are really powerful and have the greatest history. They come from the Archangel Seleum who was summoned to the earth and sacrificed herself for the greater good. It's a great honor to wear her feathers."

"But I'm sure you'd prefer to wear your own," Ryou frowned. The smile on Nizuki's lips faltered a little bit.

"Well…yah…I would…but that's not an option anymore."

After that the two fell into a heavy silence. They picked up their walk towards the dojo; though this time they walked a lot slower.

Ryou watched out of the corner of his eye as Nizuki slipped back into her mind, brooding over dark subject-matter that he wished he could help her with somehow. The she-angel was so deep in thought in fact that she didn't even notice Zubarro waiting at the dojo entrance with a come-on on his tongue and a flirtatious twinkle in his eye.

**SUPERSERIOUSOHMYGOSHMYHEADHURTSFROMTHEHEAVYPLOTTIMEISNOWOVERANDDONE**

The Coffee Clutch was perhaps the only place in Domino where the average student could hang out without having to slap down too much money.

Not only that, it had a beautiful character to it. Despite its rather modern name the entire building was designed to look like a little Italian bistro, with sunny-yellow plaster walls covered in ivy and rusty-red colored shutters on all the windows.

Yugi pulled out a few dollars from his dwindling pool of petty cash (the majority of his money was locked up in a college fund that only his grandfather could open until Yugi turned eighteen-years-old) for two Italian sodas and some sprinkle-covered, sugar-glazed pastry that looked too fancy for its own good that Nero wanted and Yugi just couldn't deny him.

(A/N: Italian sodas are the SHIZAT! I love them, they are soo delicious! But they HAVE to have cream and whipped-cream otherwise it doesn't count! Raspberry mixed with vanilla is one of the best, though melon is definitely a flavor worthy trying!! Oh they are so drool-worthy!! Gotta love 'em, gotta love 'em!!)

With food in hand Nero and Yugi floundered through the wave of after-school students until they found a small two-seat table beside a window that was free.

"Wow! This place is a lot more popular than I thought! Everyone seems to come to this place!" Yugi ogled the crowd.

"Very crowded! Very familiar! No wonder Yami got caught coming here," Nero nodded in agreement.

At the mention of his other's name, Yugi's spirits dropped a little. He wasn't depressed about matters anymore, but the teen dueling sensation still wasn't happy with the way things were going in his life at the moment. He really missed Yami and wanted to hang out with the darker boy. But all Yami seemed to care about these days was Tea.

Not that he was petty but Yugi really wondered what Yami saw in the brunette. Tea really wasn't Yami's type…she was too…soft…Yami would be better off with someone who was well…less willing to follow the trends of popular culture.

"_Maybe Tea is like that," _Yugi thought as he absentmindedly sucked on his drink, his chin in his hand and his elbow on the table. "_I mean, just because Tea acts like a mindless prep sometimes doesn't mean she can't have some good qualities too…right? I just have to find out what those qualities are and use them to my advantage to attract Yami's attention."_

Even in his own mind that plan sounded petty and cruel. Yugi didn't want to STEAL Yami away from anyone. He wanted Yami to WANT to hang out with him. He wanted Yami to CHOOSE him, instead of be captured and dragged off.

"Love bites," Yugi sighed.

"Ah-hah! So it IS a personal issue that you have that helps you to put such heart-wrenching angst into your singing," a hauntingly familiar voice said abruptly from behind Yugi.

In shock Yugi spewed his soda across the table, nearly taking out one of Nero's eyes with his straw.

"It's Atushi-san," Nero blinked in surprise.

Like in a horror movie, Yugi turned his head slowly to look over his shoulder, and just like in a horror movie that one person he most wished to not see was standing there.

Today, much like the day after last the Karaoke Club Founder, Atsushi Mamio looked like an understated rock god in the making.

Atsushi had tied his jacket around his waist, leaving his upper-body only covered with a slightly saggy white t-shirt. This allowed for the boy's nicely taunt arms to be show off.

A large ornate Celtic cross pendent hung about his neck, and his wrists were decorated with braided leather bands studded with Agate stones.

The teen's hair was draped like a curtain around the boy's face, almost to the point of covering his sparkling mossy green eyes. And the boy's smile only seemed more enhanced by this droopy look, shining out from his face like a fragment of the sun shaped into teeth.

"Y-Y-Yo-" Yugi began to gag.

The older-looking teen just chuckled harmlessly and dragged a chair over to their table. He straddled it backwards and looked for all the world like he was supposed to be there.

"Nice to see you again, little nightingale. I was afraid that after your moving audition you were just going to up and disappear."

"I-I-I-" Yugi chocked.

"You see, as you must know, I'm part of a newly formed club at school whose basic goal is to find great potential in the musical arts and polish it to an unbelievable shine. Me and my partner have tried countless times to set something up, we even tried to infiltrate the school chorus for awhile. But no matter what we did all our plans went bust."

"Ya see we could never find a medium for expressing ourselves the way we REALLY wanted. So we made the Karaoke Club. There we get to sing out the type of music that we really care about and that really stirs our souls. We basically gather together to release our passions like a …I dunno…a vocal, emotional orgy, if you'll excuse the crudity of my statement. And I think you have that kind of passion, nightingale. So here I am to ask you, properly and without any chance for you to run off on me again, if you will come to our club," the dyed red-head said almost poetically.

Yugi could almost see the flowery background complete with light bubble lit up behind the guy. Atsushi was practically a real-life shojo manga hero.

"I-I'm not so sure-" Yugi began to fend off.

"We'd love to join your club!" Nero pounced. Yugi's head whipped around to look at his angel friend in horror.

"Really? That's great!! After you finish your drinks I can take you to our meeting place and show you around! You decided to join at the perfect time! Today is our first official meeting!"

"Great! Yugi-sama and I will come, absolutely!" Nero chirped, sealing the deal from which Yugi could not escape.

Yugi slammed his head against the table and let out a low almost animalistic groan.

"_The next time I ever have the opportunity to ask an angel for help with anything I'm just going to keep my stupid mouth SHUT!!"_

**END CHAPTER**

**Masaka: **WE ARE GETTING CLOSER TO THE CLIMAX!! THANK YOU OH MIGHTY ONE!! **collapses in relief**

**Yami Masaka: **The stage has been set, the character introduced and the many, many problems laid out! The weaknesses have been exposed, the troubles have been started and now the real action can get underway!!

**Yugi: **WAAAAAAH! I want to go back to the earlier chapters when all we had to do was hang out with angels and act cute! I don't want to get into the plot! The plot can only mean pain! NOOOOO!!

**Nero: **I gotten really good at taking control, haven't I?

**Yami Masaka: **AND NAKAGATO IS BACK IN THE GAME, BABY!! He's a heck of a lot scarier and more powerful than before though. And his part had really been reduced.

**Masaka: shrugs** Eh, that's plot evolution for you. It changes things.


	25. Welcome to the Kareoke Club, Kid!

**Masaka: Big Booming Announcer Voice** FROM THIS POINT ON THE PLOT IS IN MOTION!! ALL BEWARE OF DANGEROUS PLOT!!

**THISISTHESTARTOFTHECHAPTERANDITISHAPPENINGRIGHTNOWTHISISTHEOFFICALCHAPTERSTARTYEP**

Almost as if he was caught in a trance Yugi found himself being lead towards the auditorium where the Karaoke Club would meet.

His eyes took in the sight, but his brain seemed too overwhelmed to process the information. The poor thing was still stupefied that Nero, of all people, had trapped him in this mess.

Atsushi threw open the double doors like an American western star and gently nudged Yugi inside.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLO, EVERYBODY!!" The red-headed crowed proudly for all to hear.

The small gathering of people nearest the stage looked up, fixing their collective gaze on the two boys. Yugi felt his ears begin to burn in shame.

/I can't believe you pulled me into this!!/

//Yugi-sama promised he would do this! I just insured that Yugi-sama went through with it// Nero defended against Yugi's frantic accusation.

Atsushi finally let go of Yugi's arm when they reached the bottom of the stairs. Yugi grabbed his offended arm and held it protectively against his body and took two steps backwards.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet a last-minute member of our club. He was a little embarrassed so he did a private audition to get in, but I assure you, the decision to include him in our group was completely legit. No favoritism was involved in it," Atsushi announced to the group. "The kid is Yu-chan's friend, and while he's not going to join our club, I'm sure he'll be visiting. But that's okay since we need to learn to perform in front of an audience anyway. Now I know you all learned each other's names at the audition but it'd be helpful if you could recite 'em again for Yu-chan's sake."

The group members nodded in agreement with that and formed a semi-circle around Atsushi, Yugi and Nero. Atsushi pointed to the member the farthest to the left.

She was a girl who was almost shorter than Yugi. Her eyes were dark as pitch, and her hair was so blonde it almost looked white. She blushed when she was called on and stammered out her name: "N-Narutaki Y-Yueh, C-Class 1-F!"

The guy beside Yueh looked almost as nervous as she did when the attention was turned to him. His hair was black (A/N: and cut like Jaden Yuki's) and his eyes were brown. He looked like the typical Japanese kid.

"M-My name is W-Watashito Az-Azuka and I'm a F-Freshman f-from C-class F as w-well."

The next guy looked only slightly uncomfortable. His hair was very short, almost to the point of being a buzz-cut and his whole body gave off the vibe of an outspoken punk who didn't always know when to stop. He grinned full-mouthed and fixed his own brown eyes right on Yugi's.

"The name is Yaegaki Umino, I'm a Freshman in Class D, the punk of my grade and also the greatest badass of my generation."

The guy next to this torch of attitude was an almost too bland character. His hair was gray, as only someone from Yugi's crowd could be, and his eyes were an almost gray-brown. His whole person was as lively as a still-life painting and he looked as if he would fade away any second. "Ashahara Yogi."

The next to final member was a very perky looking girl. She had long wavy hair, a little too much makeup and a rack that was straining against her shirt. "Megumi Aiko! Pleasure to meet you!"

Yugi recalled that it was a girl with an M name that had almost been dropped from the club. Yugi wondered if this was that girl.

Then the attention turned to the final girl in the semi-circle. She looked just as apprehensive as all the others but twice as happy to be here.

"You guys can just call me Trickster," the girl about 5'2, with blue-grey-green eyes, dirty-blonde hair tending towards light brown, and pale skin said. Yugi noted with interest that the girl had her school jacket tied around her waist and her blouse had been tie-dyed. Councilor Harrison must have really been influenced by his one encounter with Nero if she could get away with that look.

"Yu-chan, you introduce yourself too," Atsushi nudged. Yugi nodded nervously and took a timid step forward. "H-Hello, I'm M-Moto Yugi and I-"

"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEE!! YOU'RE Yugi Moto! As in THE Yugi Moto, the Prince of Games! The Super Successful Dueling Protégé!! As in the Super RICH Yugi Moto!!!" Megumi screeched excitedly.

"A-Ah…a-actually all my m-money is in a college fund so-" Yugi began.

"OMG!! I had no idea that club would have someone famous like YOU!! This is just too UB! WOW!! So suppa awesome!!" the girl continued to wail.

"Easy there Megumi, Yu-chan is just another club member, even if he is semi-famous," Atsushi tried to soothe.

"I know it's just I am so a hella-big fan!" Megumi continued to squeal.

"Whatever, just cool it okay," Atsushi sighed rolling his eyes.

"W/E," Megumi rolled her eyes.

Yugi watched an annoyed shudder run up Atsushi spine. Luckily, before any further words could be spoken the auditorium doors banged open again and the girl Yugi remembered as the second leader of the club came charging down to the stage where everyone was gathered with a mess of papers held in her arms.

"GOD!! Sometimes I really wish-I mean what the hell- and he was so- and now I have to-GOD!!" the dirty-blonde growled in annoyance before reaching the table set up in front of the stage and slamming her dilapidated pile onto the tabletop.

Immediately Atsushi was at her side, as supportive hand on her shoulders.

"What's wrong Mits?" He asked quietly.

"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong! That bastard Shogi bumped me in the hall just now and scattered my papers everywhere, then the _bakayaro _had the nerve to walk all over the paper with his outside shoes! Man I HATE that jerk!!"

"Don't worry, Kichi (A/N Mitsuko's first name); Shogi is a jerk but he's got no reason to really mess with us."

"Right…you're right of course…it's just he really pisses me off sometimes," Mistuko huffed irritably.

"Let's just start practice, okay?" Atsushi offered. Mitsuko nodded then turned back to the group.

"Okay people, welcome to Karaoke Club," the woman said sharp and brisk. "Before I begin there are some ground rules I have to explain."

"Awwh man," the boy Yaegaki whined. His upstart only lasted a moment, because Mitsuko instantly leapt on him with a stare that was almost more terrifying than Councilor Harrison's.

"Ooookay everybody! Now that we all know each other –sorta- it's time to get to the nitty-gritty," Atsushi grinned almost manically as he clapped his hands together. "There are some rules you're all going to follow, if you know what's good for ya-"

"Stop it Atsushi, you'll scare the freshman," Mitsuko scolded, whacking the boy's head HARD with her clipboard.

"OUCH!" Atsushi whined like a three-year-old.

"Okay people, listen up. The Karaoke Club is for students who want to learn to sing their favorite pop songs. It doesn't have as good a reputation as Chorus, nor does it have anywhere near as publicized performances-"

"_Thank Heavens," _Yugi sighed to himself in relief at that one little good bit of news.

"Also, because the faculty is a little wary about our club we have to be extra careful to not do anything that will anger them. That means that you will all behave yourselves and keep your grades up," Mitsuko continued.

"But what happens if we DO get in trouble?" Yaegaki spoke up curiously.

The Co-President of the Karaoke Club lifted her eyes from her clipboard and stared straight into the boy's eyes. Suddenly it seemed as if the temperature of the room dropped several degrees.

"It would simply be better if you just DIDN'T get into trouble," Mitsuko said in a hauntingly chilled voice that sent tremors down everyone's spine.

/Holy cow, I've just joined the club of a demon!/ Yugi thought in panic.

//No demon, Yugi-sama. But definite scaaaaaaaaaaaaaaary lady// Nero shivered, taking a defensive step behind Yugi's back.

Seeing as how his partner had just terrified everyone into a small waking comma, Atsushi stepped forward again.

"Yah, eh-heh; we would love it if everyone could keep a 3.0 GPA at lowest. Also, we need for everyone to bring in their own lyrics. Ya see, because the school budget is always a little tight we got a crappy selection of songs on our machine and well…a person can only sing 'I'm a Barbie Girl' so many times before a gasket blows and you go mental."

That joke earned a few timid laughs and lured Nero back out into the open.

"We are eternally grateful for all CD donations and all monetary contributions will go to better equipment. We meet on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in this room, unless it conflicts with another club's schedule. In which case there will be a note on the door instructing you to go to another part of the school."

"Oh Oh OH!!!" Megumi interrupted stabbing her arm up in the air like a bad imitation of the siege hail salutation.

The red-head groaned almost inaudibly and nodded his head at her in acknowledgment.

"I was wondering, are we gonna learn to perform too? Like dancing and stuff? 'Cuz that would be like TCFW and if so I have some costume designs that are TMB and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Atsushi interrupted. "Totally what? Like what? Kid, we are here to practice SINGING, not the latest _para para. _Besides, if we did add dancing into our practice, we would do so much later. Right now we are just going to practice the basics of SINGING, like scales and now to crunch words so they fit with the beat."

The girl scowled angrily and the pale boy wrote something down in a little notebook he'd pulled seemingly out of nowhere.

//Nero not like noisy brat girl// Nero pouted //she too mean to nice Atsushi. She spoiled bad//

/Yah, what's her deal anyway/ Yugi agreed.

Atsushi continued to cover the basics of the club and Mitsuko stepped up to pass around some informational papers about the club, including a schedule for meetings, a list of all the banned music –Atsushi had to stop Watashito and Yaegaki from just up and walking out of the room when that had been passed around- as well as a practice sheet explaining the scales.

The rest of the meeting was taken up by simple activities like a tour of where the supplies and changing rooms were. A demonstration of how the karaoke machine worked. A spectacular fight between Mitsuko and Atsushi over whether or not new-member initiation -which involved some rather risqué clothing for all female members provide by Atsushi- should take place –a fight that Mitsuko won with another spectacular round-about clipboard punch to the punk boy's head-. And finally a small performance by Atsushi.

"Just to prove to you all that I know my stuff, I'm gonna demonstrate my lovely voice talents for you all," the red-head had winked –directly at Yugi unnervingly enough- as he climbed on the stage and started up the machine.

For a moment there was silence and then Atsushi began to sing in a voice that was both gravelly and at the same time smoother than honey.

"_How you spend your minutes are what matters  
All tomorrows come from yesterday's  
When you're feeling broke and bruised and sometimes shattered  
Blew out the candles on the cake like everything's a big mistake  
It seems you always wait for life to happen  
And your last buck can't buy a lucky break"_

"_If all we've got is us then life 's worth living  
And if you're in, you know I'm in  
I'm ready and I'm willing"_

Almost as if in a trance everyone in the club found themselves sitting in front of the stage looking up at the dyed red head teenager in something like awe. Yugi in particular felt his pulse starting to pick up. It wasn't that he was suddenly struck by all Atsushi good-qualities –quite frankly Atsushi still annoyed the heck out of Yugi- but Mamio's voice…ah, that voice definitely spoke to something within his soul.

Atsushi sang with all the passion in his soul, and maybe a little bit borrowed from somewhere higher. It made Yugi's spirit respond with a great desire to add his own voice into the mix.

"

Atsushi's eyes latched onto Yugi's eyes as the words slipped over his lips. The teen's gaze burned its way deep inside Yugi making him feel like Atsushi was trying to talk to him, like how Yami talked with him through their mind-link.

/Yugi-sama…I think Atsushi-san…chose this song for you…because you sing sad song last time/ Nero suggested in slight shock.

Yugi looked over at Nero in disbelief then looked back at Atsushi and blushed crimson. Atsushi DID seem to be singing this song for him. This was Atsushi's way of cheering him up, of trying to provide friendship even though he hardly knew Yugi.

_  
"I Am  
When you think that no-one needs you  
Sees you or believes you  
No ones there to understand  
I Am"  
"I'll be there to be that someone  
When you think that no one, is there to hold your hand  
I Am"  
__  
"And I aint got no halo hanging over my head  
I aint gonna judge you, I'm just here to love you  
I Am  
I Am"  
_

"_I Am  
When you think that no-one needs you  
Sees you or believes you  
No ones there to understand  
I Am  
I'll be there to be that someone  
When you think that no one, is there to hold your hand  
I Am  
I Am  
When you think that no-one needs you  
Sees you or believes you  
No ones there to understand  
I Am  
I'll be there to be that someone  
When you think that no one, is there to hold your hand  
I A-A-A-A-A-Am"  
_

The moment the last note left Atsushi's voice the members of the Karaoke Club all jumped up applauding wildly and clapping as if their lives depended on it.

Megumi actually had the audacity to leap up onto the stage and plant a big kiss on Atsushi –something that did not thrill the boy at all judging by the way he jumped away and spat wildly. Yogi scribbled something else down in his suspicious little notebook before stowing it away in his breast-pocket, picking up his school briefcase and departing.

The other members of the club took a little bit longer to disperse, sticking around to praise Atsushi's performance or ask the few remaining questions they had about club activities, but even they left eventually.

And in the end the only ones left were Yugi, Nero and the two club-founders.

"So, what do you say now? You willing to unleash your nightingale voice again?" Atsushi panted, obviously still slightly winded from running from Megumi as well as the much less draining energy for singing.

"I think so, yes," Yugi smiled meekly.

"Thank God," Mitsuko said rolling her amber eyes behind her heavy frames. "I can't imagine how much whining I'd have to hear from Mamio (A/N: Atsushi's first name) if you refused to sing. He may not look like the most hard-working of people-"

"I think I'm offended," Atsushi pouted. Until Mitsuko knocked him on the scalp with her clipboard that is.

"-but when it comes to music and singing, Atsushi has more drive than any professional. You should be honored he has such an interest in you. It means you have talent," Mitsuko finished while Atsushi whimpered and rubbed his aching head in the background.

"W-well…I-I hope I will live up to your expectations. I-I mean I-I'm not a singer…I-I'm a dueler. Playing and winning games is my strength," Yugi blushed a previously unknown shade of red, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously.

Nero giggled at his 'master's' embarrassment and hugged his arm. "Yugi-sama is bashful. I hope you can help him not be."

"We'll try," Atsushi smiled at the little angel while still rubbing his head. Nero reached up and gave the taller boy an innocent peck on the cheek. Yugi noticed that a sparkle of light traveled between the two the moment the cherub's lips touched the rock-star's skin.

/What did you do to him?/ Yugi asked with the slightest hint of jealousy in his voice. He couldn't help it if he was covetous of Nero. Yugi had to have SOMEONE to snuggle with while Yami was unavailable after all.

//I make his boo-boo feel better and I gave him a small blessing// Nero explained with great affection.

/Small blessing?/ Yugi asked curiously, not noticing how Atsushi and Mitsuko were still talking while his thoughts were elsewhere.

//Sort of like…good karma points? Nero doesn't know how to explain it. It is form of angelic approval that angels give to others whom the angels find endearing. Small blessings are meant to…um…make our approval a physical feeling// Nero tried his best to explain.

/…Okay then…I guess…/ Yugi sulked. Nero instantly responded with both a physical and a metaphysical glomp of love.

//Yugi-sama is still my favorite in the whole wide world!// Nero proclaimed proudly. Yugi blushed at his own selfishness and hugged Nero back.

/Thanks Nero. You're one of my favorite people too/

//Almost as favorite as Yami?//

Yugi flinched. He'd hoped Nero hadn't caught that implied bit. He didn't want to sound cruel saying that Nero was only his second-favorite person in the world after an ex-pharaoh who for all intents and purposes might as well have been on another continent.

/Yah well…yah that's right/

"-So take care of yourself, all right Yugi?" Atsushi's voice broke into the mental conversation.

"W-What? Oh um, sure all right," Yugi blushed in embarrassment at almost being caught not paying attention.

Mitsuko said good-bye to the two boys, picked up all the papers and left, leaving Atsushi, Nero and Yugi all alone.

". . .So would ya mind sticking around here to help me lock up?" Atsushi grinned at Yugi in a way that reminded the dueling phenomenon way too much of Joey.

"Sure," Yugi shrugged, "it's not like I'm in any big hurry to leave."

"Why not? Most people can't wait to run out of this hell-beloved building," Atsushi said, sneering slightly at the walls around him. Nero giggled at his expression.

"Well…it's kind of …personal," Yugi shrugged.

"Hmm? What does that mean? You got an abusive lover tucked away somewhere?" Atsushi asked as he unplugged the karaoke machine and began to wind up the cord for storage.

"No…well not really I mean…it's complicated," Yugi sighed stepping forward to help Atsushi with moving the machine into the storage closet beside the stage.

"So explain it to me. What could it hurt?" Atsushi grinned again. That grin was so very brilliant and open like Joey's that any shyness or awkwardness Yugi would normally feel about sharing his personal life with a stranger instantly disappeared.

"I…w-well first off…let me ask YOU a question. Are you um…well do you…are you homophobic?" Yugi blushed fuchsia.

Atsushi stared at Yugi with high arched eyebrows for a long moment then tilted his firm chin back and let out a roar of laughter. "Me? Homophobic? Ha! That's laughable. Please! I'm not opposed to ANY coupling? I'm bisexual and damn proud of it!"

"O-Oh, well…y-you see I have this…" Yugi took a moment to take a steeling breath before plunging onward with exposing himself to an almost stranger, "I have this guy I love and…well…he lives in the same house as me and everything …but we're not together…in fact he has a girlfriend who he often gets…'physical' with and so I-"

"You try avoiding places where they might retreat to so that your heart doesn't get shoved a little bit further down into the shredder known as life?" Atsushi finished for the now very, very flushed boy.

"That's it pretty much," Yugi said turning his head away to stare at the distant auditorium doors.

For a long distressing moment there was no sound from the red-headed founder of the Karaoke Club except the sounds of clattering machinery. Then there was a heavy sigh which sounded so morose that Yugi couldn't help but look back in Atsushi's direction.

Atsushi was smiling at him weakly in a not-quite-happy and yet comfortingly empathetic smile. The teen punk's green eyes were slightly dark with emotion and unknowable thoughts swirling within their depths.

"Then it's no wonder you were singing like your lover had just died. The worst thing in the world is to have great love pouring out of your heart to someone else…and not having any affection returned to replace the emotion you spend. Freaking one-sided infatuation sucks balls."

Yugi wasn't sure whether to laugh at that statement or cry so he settled for a slight 'hmm'. It seemed that Yugi's first impression of Atsushi, that he was an empty-headed punk-star-to-be who had no room in his head except for sex and music, was way off base. Atsushi obviously had great depth.

"You sound like you've been a situation like mine yourself," Yugi commented.

Atsushi's serious look broke as a large teasing grin poured across his face like sunlight dripping through heavy clouds drop by radiant drop. "Naaah, I've never lusted after anyone's beau. I just had the crappy luck of falling for someone who is seemingly incapable of having a relationship."

Yugi smiled back sympathizing but said nothing, knowing from experience that some things just couldn't be communicated in words. Atsushi returned the smile with another grin and went about cleaning up the equipment.

With Yugi and Nero's aide the karaoke machine, club papers and whatnot were quickly stored away in the closet.

Almost as if with regret Atsushi herded the two new club members out of the auditorium and locked the doors. It was after the lock clicked shut that Yugi noticed they weren't the only ones in the hallway.

Shogi, the new ruler of the Domino High bullies and delinquents, was leaning against the wall just across from the door looking as though he'd been waiting for the teenagers' arrival for quite awhile.

Like before Yugi got the vibe that Shogi was not quite at peace with his surroundings, the boy's eyes harboring more shadows than Marik's used to. And Shogi's fingers seemed to be gripping the arms of his uniform a little more tightly than necessary.

"Hayashi?" Atsushi blinked at the boy curiously.

"Hey fairy-boy, we've got to talk for a minute so send your new boy-toy home," Shogi said, his voice plain and unaccented but in some way still more hard-hitting than a sledgehammer.

Nero obviously didn't like the tone because Yugi felt the angel burrowing into his side not a moment after the last syllable slipped from Shogi's lips.

/Nero?/ Yugi asked in worry.

//I not like this guy, Yugi-sama. He gives me the creepy-crawlies// Nero confessed to the younger (by a few thousand years) boy.

/Should we stay with Atsushi-sempai then?/ Yugi asked.

//No// Nero replied almost immediately//I think it best if we just get out of here right now.//

Yugi looked up at Atsushi to see that the fake red-head had his fists clenched and his pallor was a little more on the chalky side.

"Atsu-" Yugi started.

"Get out of here Moto-kohai. I'll see you Thursday," Atsushi said tersely. Shogi smiled sinisterly at that his response, an unholy twinkle sparkling in his black-brown eyes.

"O-okay…I'll see you then," Yugi said uncomfortably, his years of defending and being defended by his friends causing him some hesitancy in leaving.

"See ya," Atsushi said dismissively.

Yugi looked between Hayashi and Atsushi several times hoping that somehow something would be revealed. Then, still not knowing what was going, Yugi took hold of Nero's hand and started walking away.

As soon as he got past the turn in the hallway Yugi came to a stop and peeked around the edge of the wall to see what was happening.

//Yugi-sama, we should leave. We should get away from-// Nero began.

/I just have to make sure Atsushi is alright/ Yugi answered precipitately. Nero frowned but nodded and peeked around the corner as well.

The words that were been spoken were lost on the two boys as they were standing too far away, but they could still clearly make out the expressions of anger and stress that darkened Atsushi's face. They could also see Shogi's growing anger and malevolent glee.

Yugi was tempted to take another step closer to make out more of what was going on when Shogi made a move that made him stop completely. Shogi, clear as day, punched the wall beside Atsushi, causing the cement to actually shatter and flake.

/HOLY CRAP!/ Yugi yelped.

He watched a few more words being exchanged, then Shogi withdraw his fist from the wall and turn to walk towards where Yugi and Nero were hidden.

"You're right Nero; let's get out of here NOW!" Yugi said grabbing Nero's hand again and dashing out of the building.

He never even noticed the pair of green eyes staring through the reflection of the window.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

**Masaka: collapses on her butt completely exhausted **FINALLY!! It's crappy and not exactly how I wanted Atsushi's first and perhaps only big chapter to go, but at LEAST it's DONE!!!

**Yami Masaka: looking over a bottle of Tylenol PM with interest **Oh well, at least its done now. And that means we can go to sleep.

**Masaka: groans and curls up into a ball **Summer is not fun when you stress yourself into writing a chapter way late at night. Stupid arsonist too… **grumbles and fades off into slumber**

**Yami Masaka: **'Saka's car was intentionally burned to a smelly rubber crisp by some stupid effing kids in our neighborhood a little while ago. This resulted in her being woken up at three effing AM! So, you'll have to excuse her exhaustion. It's at times likes these that I really wish I wasn't a muse! If I had a freaking body of my own BA-BOOM!! Dead pubescent guts abound!! But enough about that; Tie-dyed Trickster, our dearest and bestest fan! CONGRADS BABE YOU WON!! You were the only person who even ENTERED our little contest but that's not relevant, what IS relevant is that you are NOW IN THE KAREOKE CLUB IN MY FANFIC!! WOOOOO!!! Be happy! Be very happy and maybe I'll let your cameo character tackle-hug Nero or something later!!

**Nero: comes out and bows **Thank you all for your readership and please remember to review!


	26. As The Months Do Pass

**Masaka: Sob hysterically **My poor car is DEAD!! I hadn't even learned to drive it yet!! And what's worse is all the Goodwill stuff I had in the back is all BUUUUUUUUUUUURNED!! Damn it all, take the car but not my donations

**Yami Masaka: U-- **Yes, this is my hikari folks. This is really how she reacts to someone burning her vehicle; she starts sobbing about how all her Goodwill donations are now ruined…can't believe you, so stupidly sweet, you can't get mad at anyone but yourself. Gives me an effing tooth-ache sometimes

**Masaka: **I can't help how I react! I swore when I was woken up at three-o-clock in the morning though, so I'm not that-

**Yami Masaka: **Yes you ARE namby-pamby! ANYONE would swear when woken up at a Ra-forsaken hour!! What matters is that you didn't get upset over the right thing!! AND YOU STILL HAVE THIS NAÏVE OUTLOOK OF THE WORLD EVEN NOW!! YOU DON'T THINK YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD IS DANGEROUS AT ALL!!

**Masaka: **Well it's not…not really. I mean when our neighbors fence caught fire and we helped put it out, our neighbor bought us pizza, and when my car was on fire one of our other neighbors came running out of his house in his underwear to help so-

**Jason: saunters up and wraps his arms possessively around Masaka** There, there little light one. You don't have to go on defending your position. Yami Masaka just doesn't understand goodness is all. You could talk forever and she'd still never get it so just give up **gloats over the top of Masaka's head at the yami while stroking up and down Masaka's arms **personally I find it sweet and refreshing that you have so much faith in humanity and that you can look on the good side of things

**Masaka: blushing like a maniac **U-uh we-well th-thanks Jason, b-but really I just have s-slow reactions to stuff like this that k-keeps me from g-getting hysterical and well I um…that is um… Jason, I think you should stop with the hands and the-

**Yami Masaka: Aura burning like an inferno eyes turned absolutely red**

**Jason: Smirks over Masaka's head and starts to move his hands towards forbidden territory**

**Masaka: **ACK!! BOOB GRAZE!! YOU GROPED ME!!

**Yami Masaka: Battle Axe raised over her head **DIE YOU STUPID HALF-RATE DOG MUSE!! DIIIIIIIIIIIIEE!!

**Jason runs off laughing manically **

**Nero and Yugi: Timidly walking out to check on Masaka **Are you alright Masaka

**Masaka: **Y-yah, I'm fine…u-uh let's start the chapter now **something crashes in the background and another battle cry sounds **before Masaka and Jason's fight destroys everything and we have nowhere to post

**Nero pulls out the force-field shield he got from Tie-dyed Trickster and sets it up around Maska, Yugi, the laptop and himself**

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Yami was unhappy. Not really ticked off, or upset, just unhappy.

For about two month or so now he had been noticing some things were not quite as they should be and it was testing the limits of his patience.

For instance he noticed that Nero had been coming over to the Game Shop quite often while Yami was out on his dates, leaving the house only after Yami arrived home.

Yami also noticed that Ryou, the poor hikari who was so often afraid of everything, was spending more and more time in class with a goofy smile on his face and a blush on his cheeks. Now this wasn't particularly something bad, but it was so uncharacteristic of the boy that it made Yami feel uncomfortably out of the loop.

Also the white-haired boy's physical stamina seemed to have changed recently. Before now, Yami could count on Ryou collapsing during P.E. wheezing and panting, trying to pass it off as a momentary thing but finally allowing the coach to escort him to the nurse's office. And yet, now-a-days, so long as it wasn't too sunny for the boy's tender skin, Ryou could often be found outrunning the average students and falling just short of outmatching the athletic powerhouses of their class like Joey or Honda.

And while Ryou's health seemed to be increasing, Yugi's strength seemed to be drained a little more than usual. More than once Yami had been greeting home, not by Yugi's usual cheerful chirp, but a tired rasp. And where once Yugi had the energy to badger and embarrassing the hell out of Yami if he returned late from one of his 'study-dates' Yugi now couldn't be woken by _a nuclear-blast_ after ten-'o'-clock. Which was much preferred over the times when Yugi WAS awake late, only because he was in too much pain from sore muscles, an aching throat or –and this made Yami's heart pound with concern and protective anger- bruises to actually get a decent amount of rest.

However, the most distressing change in the norm Yami wasn't aware of until his brought his observations to the lunching-tree meeting…

"Yugi has been WHAT?" Yami yelled, leaping to his feet in horror.

Joey, Honda, and Otogi all looked up at the former sovereign in confusion not moving an inch from their place under the lunching tree.

"YOU GUYS HAVEN'T HUNG OUT WITH YUGI IN **HOW **LONG??" Yami growled in both anger and shock.

Joey rolled a large chunk of his chili-chicken pita-pocket over into one cheek so he could mumble; "for about two months we haven't hung out with either Yugi OR Ryou after school-hours. They always say they've got 'prior plans'."

Otogi, who had unfortunately been too close to his blonde compatriot and had subsequently gotten a nice splattering of chili chicken across his uniform pants, sighed heavily and added in his part: "Occasionally we'll see Yugi out and about but he's always with other people. So far we've seen him with at least three freshman and two seniors, one of them being the infamous Atsushi."

"Infamous Atsushi? Who in Ra's name is he?" Yami huffed angrily, very miffed at being so out of the loop. As mentioned before, he hated being out of the loop.

"Atsushi Mamio of Class A-4 (A/N: Muwahaha, I made Domino High School have FOUR grade levels just because I felt like it, fear me and my un- Japanese culture writing waha!)I haven't really met him but I know his reputation. He's supposedly some real hard-ass. Really tough guy who managed to somehow sweet-talk the administration into letting him start a club," Honda explained casually from the ground where he was sprawled out, watching the brilliant colored leaves of the lunch-tree sway in the breeze, losing its coverage bit by bit.

"Not only that, I heard the guy is a real pervert too. He supposedly has a thing for young boys and has already been suspended for 'inappropriate behavior'," Otogi tacked on.

"Hey, I never heard that part!" Honda blinked in shock.

"Really, well it's all the girls in class can talk about…strange…are you not on talking terms with the girls, Hirito?" Otogi said with a mocking grin. Honda growled and sat up to get back at the dice-throwing pretty boy but Yami beat him to it.

The ex-pharaoh's face had turned pale as Otogi had shared his news and now the ex-pharaoh looked seething mad.

"So what you're telling me is that you've see Yugi hanging around with a reported molester and you did NOTHING ABOUT IT?" Yami growled, gripped the lapels of Otogi's jacket tightly in his fists.

"Whoa, take it easy boy!" Otogi gagged as his shirt collar was pulled tight around his windpipe.

"Hey, lay off him Yams; you got no room ta talk about us being bad friends after all the stuff you've pulled on Yug lately," Joey said, taking hold of Yami's shoulders and pulling the shorter male backwards.

"What do you mean? What exactly do you think I've 'pulled'?" Yami asked, his eyes narrowed with rage and suspicion."

"Well…lots of little things," Otogi spoke out again. "You and Yugi used to be so close you might as well have been surgically attached and then Tea came along and you two pretty much stopped talking."

"Yah, and not only do you not talk to him, you hardly ever hang out with him anymore, and you leave him with all the chores at the Game Shop," Honda spoke up. Immediately Yami began to splutter, trying to think up an excuse for his behavior but after several painfully long seconds without coming up with anything fitting Yami just trailed off into silence. "All you really ever seem to do is hang out with Tea and then maybe go home for dinner. We all know, we've seen you do it on at least several occasions."

"We care a lot about Yugi of course; after all we've been through how could we not?" Otogi spoke up in this silence, "but the fact remains that we are JUST friends and we have no REAL authority to tell him to do anything. Besides he's entitled to live his own life, the rest of us certainly are."

"Ain't that the truth. Normally between school, housework and the motorcycle I'm trying to restore and all the jobs I do to afford restoring it, lunch-time is about the only time I have to spend hanging out with you guys," Honda sighed mournfully. He didn't mention his budding friendship with Serenity in this list. Nothing had happened between them yet but Honda didn't want to attract Joey's attention to the matter and make things worse.

"And I've been dealing with my fair share of troubles trying to expand Dungeon Dice Monsters," Otogi agreed, tacking in his own woes.

"And Kaiba's got his big ol' company, Mai is livin' her dream in Paris, Seren' isn't gonna be back from my mom's place 'til MARCH at least, and I've got the after-school job marathon of hell on top of the study-groups 'M always runnin' off to join. Fact is, the only ones who DON'T seem ta be doin' much…are Yami and …speakin' of Ms. Friendship, where the heck is she?" Joey asked as he looked around the lunching-tree.

"She has this…dance…thing …she's doing in Osaka. Apparently it's a scholarship opportunity or something. She and her mom left this morning and won't be back for a couple of days," Yami explained shortly.

"Huh, I guess I take my last statement back. 'Side from you, everyone seems to be real busy," Joey shrugged. Yami glared at him for imply that he was being slothful but didn't make any motion to physically show the blonde his anger.

"Well, speaking of the absent, where are Ryou and Yugi," Honda coughed, breaking the awkward silence by asking the question that had been on his mind for the last several minutes.

Otogi sighed, "Honda, THOSE two have an EXCUSE! They TOLD us that they were going to be eating lunch with Nizuki and Nero in the school auditorium."

"Oops, sorry, I guess I forgot," Honda blushed.

"Wait, wait, wait… they're eating INSIDE? …That's very strange. Usually whenever the trees have changed color Yugi is the first to be outside under the lunch-tree, he loves the changing colors. And Ryou is a fan of deep autumn too because apparently the weather is easier on his body," Yami said while rubbing his chin curiously.

"Maybe they just had something they needed to do," Otogi shrugged.

"Yes, but what…aside from knowing WHO he's with, we have no idea what Yugi is really up to, or what trouble he's gotten into," Yami puzzled. "…Okay gentlemen; I say this situation bares further investigation."

"What do you mean?" the three boys asked curiously.

Yami hefted himself up off the ground and dusted himself off of all the leaf debris and dirt he'd picked up. He turned towards the school building and over his shoulder commented: "I mean that we should go spy on them of course."

And then he walked.

Honda, Otogi and Joey all looked at each other for a long moment before looking after the diminutive sovereign then back at each other again.

"Awh, what the hell," Joey shrugged, throwing his wrapper over his shoulder into the waste-basket before getting up to follow Yami.

Otogi and Honda dawdled behind a moment longer to share exasperated looks that only a fellow side-character could understand before getting up as well.

It was time to reconnect with their light-spirited buddies.

**SCENECHANGETOTHETWOHIKARISANDTHEIRTWOANGELSWHOAREALLENJOYINGLUNCHUNAWAREOFTHESUDDENATTENTIONTHEY'VEGARNERED**

Nizuki rolled her eyes once at the snoring lump of a drunken yami snoozing of Ryou's couch before closing her compact mirror and looking over at the three sets of curious eyes.

"The idiot is snoring away. You'd think after a few millennium of being stuck in a stupid golden ring the guy would be more inclined to well…DO things in his second life, don't you think?" the angel informed.

The three 'boys' sitting around her all visibly relaxed at the news of Bakura's unconscious state. Not that Nizuki could really blame them. Over the last two months or so they'd been forced to deal with the white-haired male's many problems more than once. Mostly it was simple things they had to be careful of, like avoiding waking him up while they still tried to hang out, do homework and generally just act like friends.

Once or twice, however, Bakura's behavior had caused some disturbing problems in the form of thugs hanging around the house. Between Nizuki, whose job it was to protect, Atsushi, who apparently was a brother of five and had way too many protective instincts for his own good, and Darrin, who was after all a martial arts student, the thugs hadn't lasted long.

So long as Bakura didn't do anything stupid the problem with the yakuza was settled…which was part of the reason Nizuki was keeping closer track of the yami these days.

"I'm just glad that he isn't causing any trouble. I can deal with the drunkard part of it but when he's out causing chaos…" Ryou trailed off shaking his head warily.

Yugi affectionately patted Ryou on the back and gave the boy an empathetic grin. "I'm sorry that Bakura is always like that Ryou."

"Yes, well, at least he's a somewhat decent drunk…if there is such a thing," Ryou sighed as he speared a bit of orange from the fruit salad he'd packed in with his lunch and bringing it to his lips.

"Nero thinks it is now time for a random topic change!" Nero chirped, "Ryou-san, how is martial arts lessons working out?"

The bit of orange came sailing back out only a second after it went in.

"Ah- ah- ah w-well um…it's going um…I think I have to say that…um well you see it um," Ryou stammered and chocked, his face steadily going more and more red until his face could have been mistaken for a stoplight.

"…It's going good?" Yugi offered after a minute or so of this.

"Y-Yes, it's going good," Ryou escaped with a sigh. Nizuki rolled her eyes behind Ryou's head.

The angel hadn't been overly enthusiastic about her protectorate's growing crush. In fact the angel didn't seem to like Zubarro as much as she had before, despite all his actions. Yugi suspected that the attitude had nothing to do with Darrin, himself. Nizuki had been running interference up in Purgatory for Nero's sake as well as pulling Bakura's butt out of the fire and striking down all those that dared to hurt Ryou all at the same moment for about a month and it would have been unnatural for that stress to not affect her mood, angel or not.

"Well I'm glad for you, Ryou. It's nice to see you so active," Yugi smiled as he picked up the breads he'd bought for Nero and himself and working to get them out of their surprisingly thick plastic covering. "No offense but before you started these lessons you were so weak. I used to worry that you'd wind up in the hospital."

"Yes well, unfortunately genetics plays a big part in that," Ryou sighed, "I just have to do my best to cope with what I was given."

"Good attitude," Nizuki chuckled, hugging Ryou from behind, causing the boy to blush fuchsia again.

"So how's the karaoke club going for you, Yugi? You learning anything, getting any stronger, forming a stroooong mental/spiritual defense against agents of darkness?" Nizuki asked pertly while Ryou was incapacitated with embarrassment.

"Well…um…I-I guess," Yugi sighed, rotating his meat-bun in his hands as if unsure where to bite into it first. "It's just…well…Karaoke Club has been having…it's been having…a few issues."

"Like what?" Nizuki asked while she absentmindedly ran her fingers through Ryou's hair.

"…I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind too much," Yugi sighed heavily before taking a bite of his lunch.

Nizuki glowered slightly at the boy, her protective instincts slowly whirling into gear, and turned to Nero. "What is going on?"

"…Atsushi-san is …having troubles with bullies of school," Nero explained timidly. "And Atsushi's problems are becoming…all club members' problems."

"What do you me-" Nizuki began to ask, Yugi interrupted with a sharp 'shush' directed towards them all.

The auditorium doors burst open and who should walk in the door but the red-head punk-god himself, as well as the freshman club member Watashito.

Watashito was practically draped across Atsushi's shoulder, his nose bleeding so much that even the front of his jacket was stained. Atsushi's face was unhealthily pale and his knuckles were bruised and bloodied. As they walked forward Yugi and the group had a hard time deciding which of the two boys looked to be in worse shape.

"Atsushi," Yugi said, jumping off the stage where they had all been seated and running up to meet his sempai. "Atsushi, what the heck is going on? Why aren't you taking Watashito to the nurse?"

"I can't," Atsushi responded through gritted teeth. "The Nurse will report this if I do, and you know that our club can't get entangled in another serious injury report. Councilor Harrison probably wouldn't blame us but all the other administrators would use this as an excuse to get rid of the club completely."

Yugi understood Atsushi's decision immediately and nodded in agreement. He didn't miss, however, the curious look boring into his back from his gathered friends. Yugi mentally promised himself he'd explain the situation to his friends more clearly after this little episode was finished.

"Eside id nud da baa, I beel bine, welly," Watashito mumbled, giving a supportive smile filled with blood-stained teeth.

Up on the stage Nero looked ready to dive at the freshman and help heal his wounds despite the witnesses. Nizuki, luckily, held the boy back just in time.

/Yugi-sama! Yugi-sama! You gotta help him! He bleeding so bad!/ Nero begged.

//I'll do my best// Yugi responded immediately. Out loud he said: "what can I do to help?"

"There's a first-aide kit with the rest of the club stuff in the storage closet," Atsushi said pulling the door keys out of his pocket single-handedly and tossing them awkwardly at Yugi. "Get it out and check to see if we have a nose-brace. It's a little metal thing with padding on the bottom. Also get out some medical tape, gauze and disinfectant."

Yugi nodded and swiftly went about his duties. In the meantime Atsushi led Watashito down to the first row of seats and settled the boy into the first one.

Nizuki elegantly leapt off the stage and walked over to Atsushi. Her expression was just as pained as Nero's, but she tried harder to contain her impulse to heal.

"What exactly happened to him?" the blonde angel asked, sweeping her hand over the young boy's shoulders to send as much relief as she could, without being obvious, into his body.

"Hmmph, I'll tell you what happened to him, Shogi and his army of goons happened. That jackass has some sort of …vendetta against me, and he's taking it out on me and all those in the club. I don't know what the hell I did to piss him off, I mean it's not like I've ever DONE anything to the guy, but he's just really devoted to ruining me. You know he has some of his minions keeping tabs on me. Ashahara and Megumi. Ashahara I don't mind so much, I mean at least he's straight about it; he ACTS like a minion and leaves no room for questioning his allegiances. But Megumi, God give me strength, I don't know what's WITH that chick! I think she's probably one of Shogi's girlfriends and she's using this opportunity to get closer to him or at least make him jealous or something, but sometimes the way she acts around me…it's disgusting really. Damn it, I should have worked out a better system for us all."

"Ou do enub bor us aweady," Watashito mumbled.

"Wait…what system are you talking about…does this have anything to do with why Yugi has been spending so much time with the Karaoke Club after school?" Nizuki asked curiously. She'd been curious about why Yugi hadn't been hanging out with his friends but she'd thought it had something to do with Joey's wintry attitude.

Nizuki couldn't believe she'd let something like this happen. She was a guardian angel for silver cloud's sake! She was supposed to be ONTOP of things like this. After this was over she was going to make sure she had a nice long chat with Yugi.

"Yah, that's why. I know Yugi has pretty strong friends and all but…from the way he talked about them I figured that they wouldn't notice Yugi was in trouble until the kid showed up in an iron lung. So I did some creative rescheduling and figured out how to get everyone together. There is safety in numbers after all," Atsushi explained, pulling out his handkerchief and putting it against Watashito's nose.

"M bine! Ou dun need da baby me," Watashito pouted.

"I'm feeling guilty, humor me," Atsushi frowned at the boy. He then turned back to the angel. "I found poor Azuka here surrounded by about five of the biggest, meanest SOBs you'll ever have the privilege of meeting as well as Shogi. They were badgering him about the club, saying how only faggots sing in a school club and how they were going to crush him if he didn't leave the club right then.

Watashito actually threw the first punch if you can believe that. Of course it didn't do anything, but it was pretty hilarious seeing Shogi-bakayaro's eye twitch like it did. I dove in to save him, and because the sicko is demented, he had his thugs back-off without touching me."

"He wants you to feel guilty," Nizuki frowned.

"No shit, and it's working too. Damn it! Why the hell is he doing this? If I just knew THAT I-"

"Here's the stuff, Atsushi," Yugi puffed, passing the supplies over to his club president.

Atsushi thanked him dismissively and then pulled his handkerchief back from Watashito's nose and dosed it with disinfectant. Then with all the tenderness of a father with his first child he began to fix up the boy's nose.

"…Are things like this a common occurrence?" Nizuki asked.

"No, thank God. Shogi loves to mess with us, picking fights one day and then leaving us to hang in suspense for weeks before striking again. And he doesn't do the same things all the time either. One time it will be rumors that he spreads, another time it with be vandalism of our locker-room. Bastard must have spies all over the place because he never gets caught and always know when one of our members is vulnerable. I HATE not knowing what's going to happen next and the jerk-off knows it," Atsushi said as he popped Watashito's nose back into place –not without a miserable groan from said boy- and placed the brace on the injury.

"Why don't the teachers do anything?" Yugi asked. "I mean, this has happened enough times. What are they waiting for, a death?"

"Shogi has influence over some of the teachers. He's got blackmail material on at least four. And he uses those teachers to control all the rest," Atsushi informed.

"…This kid sounds pretty impressive," Nizuki scowled.

"Yah…Shogi definitely is impressive," Atsushi said, his face squinted as if he'd just taken a large bite of lemon. Nizuki got the distinct impression that Atsushi was hiding something, but because he wasn't her protectorate she couldn't directly sense if he was lying.

Ryou took Nero's hand and lead the angel over to the seat, keeping his grip tight enough to keep Nero from doing anything irreversible.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Ryou asked the club president politely.

Atsushi warily shook his head and slumped into the empty seat beside Watashito. It was obvious that things were really bad if the guy Yugi had more than once described as the 'single most energetic person I have ever met' was this drained.

Nizuki smiled encouragingly at the fake red-head and put a hand on his shoulder. It took everything she had and more to not make the touch a healing one. Atsushi was a truly brilliant person, he was even a more or less Christian (the less part coming from the fact that he was bi-sexual and therefore church pariah) and it pained Nizuki to see him pained.

"I thought…Hayashi I thought…after all that…" Atsushi began to speak. Unfortunately, whatever revelation the teen was about to share was lost because just then the auditorium doors burst open again and the rest of the Karaoke Club came charging into the room, led by none other than Mitsuko herself. The blond looked half ready to snap someone's neck.

"AT-SU-SHI!! What the hell is this I hear about one of our members being attacked, AGAIN?" Mitsuko screeched, her usually lovely voice warped with rage.

"A-ah h-hello Kichi, I was wondering where you were," Atsushi smiled weakly. "Perhaps you and the others would like to sit down and then we-"

"Stuff it," Mitsuko hissed. She shoved her clipboard at the nearest group-member to hold then stomped over to Atsushi and pulled the poor boy's jacket down so that he and she were nose-to-nose. "I trusted you to get the club started safely. I gave up my precious spot in the Uekoyuchi Cram School to be your co-captain. I did NOT do ALL that just to be risk my life, fighting the children of the yazuka! You TOLD me, after what happened with Yugi; you wouldn't let things get this bad again!!"

Yugi once again felt the uncomfortable burn of his friend's eyes upon him. He hadn't mentioned any violence at the club and had sworn Nero to secrecy as well. He was definitely going to get grilled after this was all over.

"Mitsuko, how was I supposed to know that Shogi had an ambush waiting in the bathroom? It's not like I can predict the dick's ever movement! And as for the risking life part, I will work something out, okay? I'll see if Sh-Hayashi can't be appeased with a bribe or something. Just have a little faith in me, okay? We've dreamed of this club for such a long time, and now that we've got it, I don't want to see it crushed," Atsushi pleaded, not even flinching at the anger in Mitsuko's eyes.

The blonde co-captain stared Atsushi down for a few long minutes then sighed heavily and let the boy's jacket slip from her fingers. Atsushi fell with a thud, face-first onto the carpet.

"All right, all right! You've convinced me! But I just hope you understand that, things are very precarious for us right now. If we don't stop this abuse and find a way to get more members, dream or no, our club will be shut down!" Mitsuko told her collapsed partner.

The blonde then twirled around, snagged her clipboard back, and stomped out of the auditorium leaving behind the other karaoke members.

"Atsushi…do you really think you can get Hayashi to stop?" Trickster asked imploringly. Atsushi pried his head out of the concrete and raised his head enough to give the girl a smile.

"I don't think so, I know so. You just be ready to sing your heart out this afternoon, okay little bird?" the rock-star-in-making winked. Trickster flushed and nodded, the rest of the club members seemed to be satisfied with this statement as well and (after giving a few encouraging words to Watashito) filed off to go back to their lunches.

The auditorium doors creaked shut, seeming louder now that so many people had left.

Atsushi got the rest of his way to his feet and brushed down his clothing. He looked at Watashito then nudged his head towards the door: "Come on, I'll take you home."

"Oday," Watashi agreed. Atsushi patted Yugi on the shoulder, told him to not be late to practice, then took his friend to the front office to tell the administrators Watashito was going home early.

The auditorium doors creaked even louder this time, almost as if it sensed the dark aura that now filled the room.

"Well…I guess there are some things I should explain," Yugi sighed, turning back to the others.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND**

**Masaka: sighs heavily and collapses **I almost thought my writer's block had come back

**Yugi: **So I'm in trouble again, huh? **Sighs **Why am I not surprised?

**Nero: **Not to worry self, Yugi-sama! I have it on goodest authority that Ryou gets it much worse than you do soon enough!

**Yugi: jolts in shock **And I should be happy about that?

**Jason and Yami Masaka continue to fight on, regardless of all the damages they've caused so far**

**Masaka, Nero and Yugi: **Please read and review, thank you very much!


	27. Friends Make The Worst Enemies

**Nizuki**: **walks out under the protective glow of Masaka's newest anti-muse shield looking sheepish** Well, hello everybody. It's been a long time since I've been in the notes huh** laughs awkwardly as Masaka and Jason scream at each other in the background** Anyway I'm just here to thank all the readers for their patience. Masaka is trying to churn out chapters on a semi-regular basis but hey the inspiration she gets comes and goes and she has no control over that. She takes her time to give you all a quality product. AND! I have something I want to say one of our lovely reviewers pointed out that Ryou is more angelic than I am and I just want to say┘ THAT'S ABSOLUTELY TRUE flashes a slightly sinister grin I'm a hand of God and I take advantage of that fact, doing my duty to protect my protectorate and THEN some! I DO have mercy but I'm pretty much just like a human! The only difference is that I have both power and divine knowledge. I swear I prove my lineage in some of these chapters but yah, my personality is warped! I have an excuse -kind of- but I think it's totally fair to say Ryou is the angelic one 

**Ryou**: **sighs and shakes his head** That's just a depressing statement all around

**Yugi**: **comes walking in with snacks **Hey! drops the snacks in shock What are you guys doing in here?

**Ryou**: Um...being inspirational?

**Yugi: shrugs** works for me **sits down beside Masaka and starts nibbling on his snacks**

**Nizuki:** This chapter contains examples of violence and harsh language, be cautious if you are easily offended or have bad memories that could be triggered by fictionally similar events, otherwise enjoy the newest installment of Masak1's fanfiction story 'Heavenly Interventions'!

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

_**Excerpt from the last chapter:**_

"Well┘I guess there are some things I should explain," Yugi sighed, turning back to the others.

_**End excerpt from the last chapter:**_

"By Heaven's Mercy, you certainly do, Yugi!" Nizuki snorted angrily at the short teen.

Yugi couldn't tell whether the angel was really genuinely mad, or simply upset. Either way Yugi really didn't want her to be that volatile before listening to his story. She'd have enough to get mad over AFTER she heard everything.

"Take it easy Nizuki, I had a reason for keeping things to myself," Yugi said holding up his hands warningly. Nizuki raised one curious eyebrow, not looking the slightest bit convinced that Yugi had any reason for his silence. "The first reason is well...I think people would notice if you went on a murdering rampage to take out all the attackers."

Ryou snorted in laughter at this while Nero gasped in horror at the mere suggestion of violence.

Nizuki, herself, blushed and awkwardly cleared her throat. She wasn't upset with the insinuation. She knew Yugi didn't mean it LITERALLY and she recognized that her methods were a little...hands-on at times.

"Uh huh, well ...the other reasons?" Nizuki asked, not looking at the short teenager.

"I think that doing anything at this point would just cause more problems," Yugi sighed heavily. "I mean, sure you could go confront Hayashi but...if you do that...you might send him off the deep end and..well..."

"Things are delicately balanced right now and you don't want to be the one to tilt the scales, is that right?" Nizuki questioned.

Yugi blushed and nodded his head. Nizuki smiled empathetically at the boy and warily shook her head.

"Yugi...I DO know how to settle things quietly. I AM an angel after all."

"I-I know that..I just...I dunno," Yugi mumbled.

Nizuki rolled her eyes and flopped into a vacant theater seat, slumping down enough so that her long legs could bridge the gap between the stage and seats so that her feet could rest on the stage itself.

"Just tell story now Yugi-sama, Nizuki-nee will not do anything without consulting you," Nero smiled gently, giving Yugi's arm and mind an encouraging squeeze.

"Okay then...well things started out innocently enough I guess..."

**FLASHBACK**

_It was about three weeks after Yugi first started going to club when it happened. By this time he'd started up a semi-friendship with the club's male president. Not that it was surprising for something like that to happen. _

_Yugi, himself, was a pretty open guy and Atsushi had the personality to draw in anyone who didn't put up a resistance. Friendship was kind of inevitable._

_Yugi had walked towards the auditorium, having planned on getting in early and reading some of his required reading for things started, when he'd heard raised voices coming from the auditorium._

_"Shogi! Come ON man! What the hell are you doing? We used to be friends! We used to-"_

_"Notice that past tense thing going on in your sentences, Mamio? We USED to be friends, before you decided to go and turn your back on us and-"_

_"I never turned my back on you, damn it! It was middle-school, I got a crush on our sempai and you went ape-shit!"_

_"Don't try and oversimplify things, Mamio! You did more than that, you-"_

_"So I quite that stupid gang we made! So I started cleaning up my act! And yah I guess I also did the unthinkable by acted HUMAN towards your father! But how could any of that shit have made you go over the edge? What was so bad about that??"_

_"ALL OF IT! ALL OF THE CHANGES TICKED ME OFF! We were partners, damn you! We had everything going for us!"_

_"I didn't just drop you, baka! I came by your house all the time! Damn it! I even broke up with that guy because things got awkward! What more did you want from me?"_

_"I wanted...I wanted you to ...stay the same. I didn't want things to change!"_

_"Things change, that's just life! Besides, it's not like-"_

_"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP YOU STUPID FAIRY!! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF LISTENING TO YOUR STUPID PREACHING! YOU ALWAYS TRIED TO TAKE THE MORAL HIGHGROUND! BUT THIS TIME I WON'T LET YOU! YOU DAMNED... DAMNED...SODOMIST!!"_

_"Shogi...Hayashi-kun I-"_

_"DON'T! DON'T EVER TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! DON'T CALL ME HAYASHI-KUN LIKE YOU EVEN CARE!! YOU'RE DEMON-CHOW YOU DISGUSTING ROACH!!"_

_"You don't understand Hayashi, it's not like I'm trying to-"_

_By this point, Yugi had reached the doors of the auditorium and from there he'd been able to hear the sound of flesh impacting flesh very clearly._

_"That's just a warning, Atsushi! You wanna be a fudge-packer, you go ahead and do it; I don't care! But I don't want you trying to make yourself famous by doing it! I want the Karaoke Club disbanded!"_

_"You ARE mental! Hayashi, this club has NOTHING to do with my lifestyle! It's just for singing! You know that thing we used to do together in the parking garage of our apartment complex? I-"_

_"NO! NO! YOU DON'T GET TO HAVE ANYTHING! NOT ANYMORE! YOU GET NOTHING! YOU CAN'T HAVE ANYTHING YOU FAG! NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING!!"_

_"Hayashi! I'm not going to ruin my life just to make you feel better! If you turn your little gang against me, I swear that I WILL make you regret it! If you go against me or anyone I'm close to I will make you regret EVER trying to mess with me!" Atsushi's voice had said in a tone that was unnaturally cold and violent._

_"Heh...so you say...but I don't think you have the muscle to pull it off...see you in Hell, Mamio," Shogi's voice had hissed almost seductively._

_The door had then slammed open, nearly nailing Yugi in the face. For a nerve-wracking moment Shogi and Yugi had stood face-to-face, their eyes locked, silently examining each other like wolves judging an opponent._

_"Hmph, little fudge-packer," Shogi had said, uncreative to a tee, before he shoved Yugi to the side and stomped off out of sight. Yugi had watched him go and had then turned his attention to the auditorium._

_His eyes instantly went to his club president. The man had been close enough that Yugi could see the hand-print on the side of Atsushi's face that would soon turn into a bruise. The potential teen idol had been standing slightly slumped in on himself, like he'd been fighting a need to scream or cry and had not been winning by much._

_"I suppose you heard all that," Atsushi had asked Yugi. Yugi had nodded._

_Atsushi had sighed and ran a hand through his hair, which surprisingly hadn't been dyed that morning, revealing Atsushi's true color, dark chocolate with honey highlights. Without his usual punk hair Atsushi hadn't looked totally himself. He'd looked just like any normal teenager, if not a little more attractive. The sigh had been slightly disturbing._

_"I'm sorry," Atsushi had said almost to himself, "I didn't mean for old issues to...I'll make sure he won't...it won't be...I'm sorry."_

_"You were best friends?" Yugi had asked._

_"Yah...key term being we WERE," Atsushi had said before shaking his head and slapping on a smile. "But like I said, it's not going to interfere with anything, let's get you set up for club, okay?_

**FLASHBACK END**

"I'd planned on telling you about Hayashi after I first heard the argument┘but when I saw how depressed Atsushi looked...I-I just couldn't," Yugi explained, his own shoulders slumped like Atsushi's had been.

"...Atsushi still cares for Shogi," Nizuki said with certainty. "If I had done anything to him, it would've had a ripple effect on everyone in the club. I understand."

"But you see... that's not all. I mean it's not like Shogi...the guy is...let me explain..."

**SECOND FLASHBACK START**

_Naturally being the one Shogi directly hated, Atsushi was the first one to get a taste of Shogi's Wrath._

_It happened during Gym._

_All the boys had been playing soccer, working up a real sweat. So, as you would naturally assume, after the whistle had been blown the guys had all hit the showers without hesitation. Atsushi had just finished scrubbing up when one of his classmates mentioned to him that they'd noticed Shogi throwing Atsushi's clothing out into the hallway._

_Irritated, and not noticing the classman he'd talked to was one of Shogi's men, Atsushi had tied his towel around his waist and marched out to get his stuff back._

_The moment Atsushi's feet had exited the gym the doors had been locked, leaving Atsushi very much stranded._

_Atsushi had stood in the hall consumed with horrified shock for several minutes before realizing what had happened. He had turned to beat down the locker-room door when he'd noticed that the girls of his grade, who had all been in Home Economics, were coming down the hallway._

_Rather than allow himself to be completely humiliated, Atsushi had made the brave decision to go down in style. The fake red-head had leaned casually against the locker room door, crossed his arms over his chest, and grinned like a true Casanova._

_"Hello girls, any of you feel up to ditching class for a romantic dip in the pool? Clothing is optional, of course," Atsushi had winked at the strictly female crowd_.

_Several girls had squealed in embarrassment, turning pink as cherry blossoms, while several other girls just passed out completely. Mitsuko, unfortunately, had not been at all affected and had gone on to bash Atsushi's head with her clipboard until a teacher rushed to the scene to return Atsushi to the locker-room._

_The next day several new girls joined the club._

**END SECOND FLASHBACK**

"He...turned his situation...into a chance...to ...charm people?" Ryou said disbelievingly.

"Hayashi was upset too, he got his little pet Megumi to start a rumor around the incident saying Atsushi was a sexual predator," Yugi groaned, not noticing that just a moment ago the door had been cracked open and several sets of eyes and been staring into the room.

Nizuki noticed, but didn't pay it any mind. She didn't care if Yami wound himself up over Yugi's club; that was a good thing. She was more interested in Yugi's bully problem.

"And after this...failure...Shogi tried again?" Nizuki asked.

"Uh-huh, you see, he must have gotten really ticked off because he stepped up his tricks..."

**START THIRD FLASHBACK**

_Freshman do not all fit the mold that upperclassmen fit them into. They were not all whiny, childish, annoying pests that needed a good butt-kicking to encourage growth. Yaegaki Umo was the key-example of that._

_Sure the kid had a little too much in-your-face attitude but his good heart covered for that, mostly. In fact, more than once Yugi had caught himself thinking that Yaegaki was probably one of the coolest guys he knew. The boy always had a joke (usually a dirty one) up his sleeve to smooth over awkward moments, and he was always the first one to bring in new music when the only songs had been gone through several times._

_Perhaps it was his brilliant quasi-Atsushi attitude that did him in, or maybe it really was just random chance, whatever the reason the poor freshman was the first victum of the Shogi Grudge._

_According to Watashito, from whom Yugi had gotten the whole story, Yaegaki had been going to class one day when one of Shogi's goons approached him. The goonie said that if Yaegaki didn't quite he would plaster nasty pictures of Yaegaki's mother all across the school._

_At first Yaegaki had thought it was a joke, but, when he realized the punk was serious, the boy had socked Shogi's man in the gut and stormed off._

_The next day his classroom had been covered in picture print-outs of Miss Yaegaki, or at least a digital compilation that looked like her, dressed in nothing but very small pink lingerie dipping her fingers provocatively under the waistband of her panties. The other people in the classroom, being decent kids, had helped Yaegaki take the pictures down._

_But before anything could really be said, Yaegaki had stormed out of his class over to the class of the idiot who'd done it. The guy had been ready and waiting for him. Yaegaki had been forced into the boy's bathroom and held down as three older students saved his head down to the barest roots._

_"Show some remorse for the death of your mama's good name, homo," one of the boy's had hissed into his ear._

_Luckily for Yaegaki, the boy had taken the precaution to tell Atsushi what he was up to, and when the freshman didn't come back after fifteen minutes the fake red-head went after him._

_By the time he'd reached the bathroom Shogi had joined the party. He had apparently squatted on Yaegaki's back, debating out loud whether or not they should continue their little shave job over the rest of the boy's body._

_Atsushi had taken one look at the position and then took a cell-phone picture._

_"Yaegaki...mind if I send this picture around school? I think people should know that I'm not the only supposed sexual predator around," Atsushi had said casually._

_"Humiliate his ass," the freshman had cackled. Shogi supposedly let out a horrified hiss and had immediately gotten off Umo's back to take a threatening step towards the fake red-head._

_"Atsushi, you-"_

_"Leave Yaegaki alone and I delete it...if not, I'm sending this thing straight to your father," Atsushi had threatened._

_Hayashi's eye twitched but he nodded in agreement and motioned for all his thugs to leave. Atsushi dutifully pressed 'delete' on his phone and spend the next fifteen minutes trying to get Yaegaki to stop from rolling on the floor laughing in trauma-induced hysterics._

** END THIRD FLASHBACK**

"And so Shogi left Yaegaki alone...and he went off and did...well it doesn't matter what he did. You see how this trend is going so I-" Yugi tried to brush off.

"Yugi-sama not tell whole truth," Nero spoke up. Yugi flinched and looked pitifully over at his angel friend.

"I think they've heard enough," Yugi begged.

"You not get off so easy, Yugi-sama. You need tell about YOUR problems," Nero spoke up.

"I-It's not like they did anything REALLY-" Yugi began to brush off. He didn't even finish his sentence before he noticed the glowering sets of overly concerned eyes on him. Ryou and Nizuki looked like they were prepared to hand-cuff themselves to the boy in order to get their way.

"Eh-heh well...I guess I SHOULD tell you EVERYTHING...for clarity's sake..." Yugi coughed.

**START FOURTH FLASHBACK**

_Yugi hadn't meant to walk into such an obvious trap. It's just, after being under the protection of his friends and his darkness for so long his natural danger evasion instincts had gotten criminally rusty... and considering how naive he was in general this slight lapse was really something._ (A/N: Isn't that the case though! Little Yugi has moments of pure brain implosion during the series where all his natural genius jumps out the window. Remember that duel with Malik controlled Bandit Keith? That was no accident! That was brain implosion! Yugi totally lost his mind for all of two minutes, during which the blonde biker ran off with the Puzzle!)

_It had been on the day when Nizuki and Nero were both busy looking after Bakura. Nizuki had taken Nero along with her to use his deadly sweetness to guilt Bakura into going home while she dealt with the bigger problem of keeping his debt-collectors at bay without actually doing anything too violent to them, which would have just gotten Bakura into worse trouble._

_Without the angels, and without Ryou who had taken Nizuki's absence as a chance to take Darrin up on his long standing offer to get a drink before practice, Yugi had been left without his usual protection._

_Earlier in the day Yugi had gotten a message in his locker, supposedly written by Atsushi asking him to come to a certain club after school. By this point in time Yugi had long since given up trying to resist Atsushi's charm and so had decided to go._

_He'd walked to the poorer district of town, down to a seedy looking restaurant. Yugi had only seconds to look at the place before the place's man-wall bouncer had grabbed him and dragged him backstage to where the restaurant's manager had been waiting for his 'newest employee.'_

_Yugi got a big eyeful of the skimpily dressed waiters dressed in their various kinky uniforms on the walk. That had been enough to jump-start his old instincts. He'd somehow pulled himself out of the Thing's monstrous grip and had been running back towards the exit when one of Shogi's goons tripped him up, causing him to fall hard to his knees. In the process of getting up, Yugi did more damage to his knee than anticipated. He couldn't even limp away from the thug Shogi had assigned to him when the brute stepped forward to finish Man-Mountain's delivery work._

_He was being led back towards who knows what kind of sicko when, shock of all shocks, one of the boy-toys came to Yugi's rescue. Apparently this particular waiter had been the sempai Atsushi had once dated, and just as you would expect from a great guy like Atsushi the former beau had both beautiful and kind._

_He'd pummeled the unexpected thug to within an inch of his life then led Yugi back to the exit. Upon reaching this point, much to Yugi's embarrassment, the almost female looking male had given him a kiss on the cheek and a little love-tap across the butt along with a stern lecture about being more cautious. Even with a bum knee, Yugi made it home at top speed._

_The next day Yugi had come back to school with nothing more than a slight gimp in his leg. The goon, on the other hand, had gotten the reaming of his life, not only from Shogi, but his own family who had been called in to pick the boy up when it was realized Yugi's attacker couldn't get himself because of all the contusions he'd received._

**END FOURTH FLASHBACK**

Silence followed the end of this particular story. Ryou and Nizuki didn't look disgusted, much to Yugi's relief, just bewildered, as if they weren't sure how to respond to such a story.

"You know...if your yami ever found out you were at a seedy cosplay gay bar he'd probably have a brain hemorrhage," Ryou said finally.

Yugi laughed weakly and nodded. "Yah, and if he ever found out it was because I was in Karaoke Club that I was put in harm's way he'd probably imprison me in my own house, to make sure I never join any potential dangerous group ever again."

Nizuki's eyes flickered over to the door again. The eyes had been peeking in and out every few minutes. That meant that the only thing the interlopers had heard had been the um...questionable parts of Yugi's stories, and probably not even all of that either. It amused the strawberry-haired angel to think of the many wrong things the ex-pharaoh could have heard; however, she needed to guide things along a little to make sure the things the hikaris were talking about didn't come to pass...especially the brain hemorrhage thing, that wouldn't help anyone.

"Well things definitely have been rough on you, Yugi. But you know none of it's Atsushi's fault, right?" Nizuki said, making sure she was speaking loud enough that her voice would carry up to the 'spies' but mellow enough that the hikaris wouldn't notice something was up.

"Of course not!" Yugi yelled, obviously horrified at the thought of Nizuki blaming Atsushi. "Atsushi is a great guy! I really like him and I know he'd never do anything to hurt any of us!"

"Oh, I'm not suggesting anything to the contrary, Yugi. I was just commenting on how your involvement in the club has ...shall we say...opened you up to new, not very likeable, experiences," Nizuki said calmly and carrying. She twisted her fingers slightly, casting the slightest charm on Yugi to make his voice carry up to the doors of the auditorium as well.

"I learn from bad experiences and I don't regret them. Like you told me before, I have to make myself stronger, and for better or worse, Karaoke Club is helping me to be stronger!" Yugi stated passionately.

Nizuki broke the spell and lowered her own voice.

"Good for you, Yugi. I'm proud of you; however, I want you to notify me immediately the moment Shogi does something. The boy is walking a fine line between simple harassment, and true malevolence. He's already bludgeoned one of your club members, only He knows what Shogi might attempt next."

"Okay...I promise," Yugi smiled at the angel. Nizuki smiled back, but for entirely different reasons.

"Let's see how you react to THAT, oh pharaoh of little sense!"

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Huddled just outside the auditorium door four boys sat together in shared amazement. Well, three sat in amazement, the smallest one was being held down by force.

"I can't believe we just heard that!" Joey said in awed tones, his eyes wide with shock.

"Yah, I mean, straight from the horse's mouth! Atsushi really IS a pervert, walking around in just a towel, hitting on girls!" Honda gasped.

"Not even I'm THAT brave," Otogi whistled. "And on top of that Atsushi has the guts to work at a kink bar!"

"But ya know, at least we now know he's not some criminal pervert. I mean, he stopped that one kid, Yaegaki's boyfriend or whatever, from molesting him in the bathroom! The guy obviously has SOME morals," Honda tacked on.

Yami squirmed from underneath his friends. All three of the teenagers had sat down on him, to keep the ex-spirit from flying off the handle. They didn't want him charging into the luncheon and forcing Yugi to tell him all that had happened. That would've been embarrassing, it would have been...

Well, it would have been admitting that they didn't trust Yugi, and none of them wanted that.

"Let. Me. Up! I'm going to KILL Atsushi for corrupting my light like this! Strip bars, public sex, nudity! Yugi shouldn't be involved in any of this!" Yami growled sinisterly from his place on the ground.

"Noooo way, man! Nothing doing, you are way too geared up and you'll do something stupid!" Otogi told the ex-pharaoh.

"Yah! And 'sides that, if ya DID go after Atsushi, Yugi'd never talk ta you again. Ya heard him in there, he said he likes Atsushi and thinks the guy is strong and great!" Joey scolded.

Yami's squirming settled down slightly as the once ruler settled into thought. "Yes, I suppose you are right...however we cannot stand by and let Yugi be drawn in by Atsushi's charm...he'll only wind up getting hurt...Perhaps tomorrow we should all hang out with him, make him realize that strength doesn't come from just muscles...make him see that Atsushi isn't right for him."

"Wait, what? This sounds an awful lot like you're planning on...well...wooing Yugi," Otogi said, causing Joey and Honda to gag slightly.

"In a manner of speaking," Yami smirked.

All three of his friends noticed this look and each gave a frustrated sigh. They knew that once Yami got like this, there was no going against him.

"Well guys, I guess we have a wooing to plan," Otogi groaned.

'Heaven help Yugi against the rampaging pharaoh,' all three prayed before all simultaneously standing up.

Yami didn't have time to get back at the boys for their method of restraint because just then the lunch-bell rang. Yami recognized that punishment would have to come later, at a time when he was less likely to get dragged off by the ear by Councilor Harrison, like maybe after Yugi was safely lured away from the dark-side.

Yes, Yami thought, woo now, maim later. And with that happy thought we rushed off to class with his co-conspirators.

**ENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTER**

**Masaka:** You know, I had a WHOOOLE other set of flashbacks written out before I realized that I was making Shogi WAY too malevolent.

**Yugi:** She nearly had me being chased through the park by a hammer-wielding psycho

**Masaka:** Violence isn't necessarily a BAD thing, it does add drama...only ...in this case...too much drama. I have to have Yami trying to 'save' Yugi in a humorous way, and I can't accomplish that if there is a serious threat to take care of! I have to save the angst for a little later on...after Yami and Yugi have their moment...which will bring them a nudge closer...and then all the bats of hell can be loosed and the plot can continue.

**Ryou:** Suddenly I fear for our future **giant explosion outside the protective dome goes off and Jason's howl echoes through the air**

**Nizuki: looking around in shock** Whoa, was that a foreshadowing sound, or was the coincidence? Are we really in for that much trouble? Should I be stocking up on sunlight?

**Masaka: **P.S. This chapter would have been up earlier but and my computer's Microsoft Word are having an argument right now or something and I had to upload off of Notepad...which of course meant I had to edit everything over again once it WAS loaded so that the italics and bolds would show up.

Masaka: See you all next time!!


	28. Do Or Die: A Date With Yugi

**Yami Masaka: collapses in battered exhaustion to Masaka's left **Huff, huff, huff

**Jason: collapses in battered exhaustion to Masaka's right **Wheeze, wheeze, wheeze

**Masaka: sighs and puts down her glass of iced tea and crosses her arms in a lightly scolding manner **Are you two ready to get along again?

**Yami Masaka: squirms over to flop her head into Masaka's lap **Ask me again when I've regained consciousness

**Jason: rolls over onto his back, arms tucked to his sides like the dog he is **Can't say I won't do something to tick Yami Masaka off again sometime but for right now I'm too tired to fight

**Masaka: smiles and gives both exhausted fighters a pat on the head **Very good, now you two just lay still and let me write this chapter

**Nero: walks in carrying a huge sign **I got warning ready Masaka! **stabs the sign into the ground then bounds off to cuddle with Yugi**

**Sign: Strobe lights waving wildly from its top corners, annoying siren wailing from a speaker at its base 'WARNING! SAP AND HUMOR ALERT! MOSTLY HUMOR! YUGI AND YAMI SAP ALERT! LOOK OUT FOR SHONEN-AI MOMENTS! ALL HATERS ENCOURAGED TO LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!!'**

**Jason and Masaka: withering miserably **TURN THAT DAMN THING OFF!!!

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

In retrospect Yami realized it probably would have been better to start his wooing process a little more subtlety. However, even if Yami had been a little forward he didn't think it'd been bad enough for Yugi to have screamed bloody murder and latched onto the kitchen's overhanging lamp.

But really all Yami had done was order some breakfast from the café he and Tea always went to, and set the kitchen table with a romantic red table-cloth, china plates, crystal glasses and a vase of white-roses.

Well, that and he'd also dressed in his luscious red silk button down shirt tucked into his most attractive pair of tight black leather pants with his black boots. And okay maybe Yami had also given Yugi his most dashing smile and had maybe _cooed _rather than asked for Yugi to sit down and eat with him.

(A/N: And if you are trying to make a mental picture of this scene you'd also have to add in a sparkle on Yami's smile and a shojo backdrop of either roses or bubbles along with sappy theme music)

Certainly this was out of the ordinary for Yami but it didn't mean Yugi had to cling to the ceiling screaming at him, calling him an evil Yami-clone sent by either Pegasus or the somehow revived Marik to screw with Yugi's head.

And after Yami had explained he'd just been trying to make up with Yugi after ignoring him for so long it was totally inappropriate for Yugi to start tearing apart the kitchen in a search for hidden-cameras and demanding Yami to strip down so Yugi could see if he had a camera on him either.

All in all what should have been a quick breakfast turned into an hour long explanation of Yami's 'supposed' motivation for all this followed by a microwave marathon to reheat the things that should have been warm.

"I'm really, really sorry for wigging out on you, Yami," Yugi said, blushing prettily from his chin all the way up to the roots of his hair, "it's just well…this is…unexpected."

"You know I care about you, aibou. You should have realized that I would do anything for you, expected or not," Yami smiled charmingly. Yugi gagged on a bite of sweet croissant and glugged down about half his glass of sparkling apple cider to clear it out.

"Y-yes well um… thanks …I think," Yugi said after he regained his breath.

"You are most welcome," Yami said, his grin a little more forced now that his pride had been squashed yet again. He was SUPPOSED to be making Yugi so happy that he didn't care Yami was acting peculiarly.

"Um…Yami…there's a vein sticking out on your forehead," Yugi said timidly. Yami shook himself to dispel all his other thoughts and he slipped his charming mask back on.

"Are you busy today, Yugi?" Yami asked.

"Well…um…I sort of have this thing with Atsu- a friend of mine, that you don't know," Yugi flustered. "B-but if you had s-something planned I could always cancel."

"Then I'll get you a phone," Yami said pulling away from the table and leaving the room.

**PERSPECTIVECHANGEPERSPECTIVECHANGEPERSPECTIVECHANGEPERSPECTIVECHANGE**

Once the ex-spirit was gone Yugi allowed his full feelings to burst out and he slumped over the tabletop, clenching the tablecloth, breathing hard.

He couldn't believe that Yami…that his Yami…with the breakfast…and the smiling…and the outfit…OH GOD! Yugi HAD to have smothered himself in his sleep last night because this was like Heaven. And yet at the same time it was like Hell! What was happening to him?

Thoroughly panicked Yugi dug around in his own jeans pocket for the compact mirror Nizuki had given him, and flipping it open.

"NIZUKI!" Yugi hissed into it loudly as he dared –which wasn't much-. "Nizuki! Wake up! Come on I need your help!"

Three agonizingly long seconds passed before Nizuki appeared before the mirror, unusually well kept for her normally drained morning state. She grinned warmly at him and asked what was up and Yugi told her. All of it. Every last horrifying, uplifting, suspicious, glorious detail.

"…Um…hmmm…this is odd," Nizuki said stroking her ear-cuff and looking contemplatively at the ceiling. She then shrugged loosely and gave Yugi her most brilliant grin yet. "But seeing as how this is what you wanted I say just lay back and enjoy the ride! Of course I mean that only in the figurative sense, if you DO get that particular 'ride' then you should do anything but lay back, you should actively participate, use your tongue/ hands/ feet to the extreme and-"

"NIZUKI!" Yugi interrupted, his face now twice as red as it had been before, as images began to pop up in his head like libido-sourced spam. "I didn't call to get a sex lecture I called to get help! This is way too weird! Something must be up! Can you please come over here and do your human mood-ring thing to help me figure out what the hell is going through his head!"

"…Technically it would be angel mood ring," Nizuki said after a long moment of studying Yugi's face, "and I'll send Nero over instead. You ARE supposed to be hanging out with Nero and avoiding Yami to peek his interest after all."

"I didn't know he was going to do something like this!" Yugi whimpered.

Yugi head-flopped onto the table and began to whimper even more. "Good God those pants! Those stupid Ra-forsaken paaaaants!"

Nizuki had the dignity to look away from Yugi's little self-misery session. So while Yugi was wailing away she woke up Nero and got him dressed and told him to go downstairs and start breakfast because she was taking him on a mission really soon.

By the time Nero was safely down the stairs the conversation was ready to continue. Although saying 'we'll be there in about ten minutes' and getting a weak nod in reply isn't really much of a conversation.

Yugi closed the mirror and slid it back in his pocket just in time for Yami to come back in the room with the phone. Yugi was also lucky enough to have banished his blush before Yami came back in the room.

"Here you are Yugi, call your friend and tell him you'll be spending ALL day with me," Yami grinned perhaps a little too brilliantly. Yugi got the mental image of a shark from seeing all those teeth.

Somehow Yugi managed to keep his fingers steady enough to dial Atsushi's home number even more luckily there was someone there to answer.

"'Ello?" a little girl's voice chirped. Yugi's face couldn't help but melt into a gentle smile at the sound. It was one of The Hoard, as Atsushi fondly called his sisters.

Atsushi had only ever once submitted the club to the madhouse that was his family, and it had only been long enough for the boy to slip inside and grab his wallet.

Everywhere the club members had looked they'd seen girls, girls and more girls. Not to mention that the apartment itself screamed girl. Everything in the apartment was pastel colored, or pony-printed or sticker-covered or buried under dolls. And the exact number of people in that apartment had been impossible to calculate because everyone seemed to be rushing around at mach-speed, all rotating around Atsushi like little planets, or maybe more accurately, little comets as they all seemed to shoot off every which way before returning to the fake red-head's side.

Yugi had found it terribly endearing that his club president was a many-times over big brother. It certainly explained how Atsushi knew just what to do during a female meltdown.

Unfortunately, while Yugi was just smiling in fondness, Yami didn't interpret it so. He only saw Yugi smiling a sappy happy smile _because of someone else's influence._

"Hey, can I talk to Atsushi?" Yugi said, not bothering to try and take a guess at what the girl's name might be.

"M kay," the little one chirped before Yugi heard a loud thunk that probably came from the phone being dropped onto a tabletop.

Yugi waited a few more minutes then a familiar male voice came on the phone, sounding slightly harassed.

"Hello? Who is this? If you're calling about the rent payment it's-"

"It's Yugi," Yugi interrupted.

"….Oh…well this phone call has already drastically improved. What's going on Yugi?" Atsushi's voice said bright and clear.

"You know how we were supposed to go out today," Yugi said, cautious to not mention what he was doing with Yami around, but not aware enough to notice how Yami's face changed at Yugi's particular choice of words. "The things is…Yami and I…we've apparently got plans today and I won't be able to make it."

Yami glared a hole in the adjacent wall while Yugi listened to Atsushi's response, gave him own reply, and then hung up.

"Okay then, I'm all yours," Yugi smiled. Inwardly he smacked himself. His libido was having too much fun messing with his brain making double-meanings out of everything and trying to get Yugi's tongue to say some unrepeatable phrases.

"Good, just how I want it," Yami responded, making Yugi's mental situation that much worse.

"S-so w-w-what e-exact-l-ly did you have p-planned…Yami-k-kun?" Yugi asked nervously.

"Oh, just a few activities like the ones we had planned a few months ago. We never did make it to see Kaiba's new exhibition," Yami shrugged. The dark spirit then leaned nearly across the table and said in a more whispery tone, "then maybe we could have a quiet lunch and…a little time to get reacquainted?"

Once again Yugi's inner-pervert cheered and chanted out the many different ways that particular phrase could be taken.

'Today,' Yugi thought pessimistically as his more rational brain shoved the inner-pervert away again, 'is going to last forever.'

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Getting out of the Game Shop took a lot longer than either boy had expected. Mostly because Yami kept sending Yugi back upstairs to get changed every time the younger came down in "inappropriate attire."

It actually kind of ticked Yugi off that Yami was being so critical of his clothing. Sure some of his outfits showed skin –okay, in fact they showed a lot of skin, but when you had Atsushi AND Nizuki charging over to your house and ransacking you learned to deal with it – but it wasn't like Yami was some paragon of conservative dress. The ex-pharaoh wore LEATHER-PANTS religiously after all.

Still, for better or for worse, Yugi and Yami settled on an outfit and left the game shop to walk down to the Kaiba-Land. All the new and exciting innovations for duel-monsters had been moved from the convention hall to the amusement park about a month ago. It was slightly sad that the two world-famous duelists had been so busy with the mundane duties of life that they hadn't been able to see what was 'new' in their field of fame until it wasn't really all that new any longer.

En route to the land of Kaiba's Making (A/N: **Masaka: **Take a step inside a woooorld of my creation, there you'll find what you see is what its truly meant to beeeee…sorry about that) Yami noticed a lot of people staring at his hikari.

Not just people, other teenagers. The masses of their peers suddenly seemed aware of Yugi's presence where they hadn't even noticed a living being existed for the past seventeen-years.

Every time Yugi smiled, someone just beside them on the sidewalk would blush and sigh with joy. When Yugi, in a moment of childish glee and abandon, started to skip down the way the people around him would stare with unimaginable fascination at the boy's posterior –which much to Yami's chagrin seemed perfectly prepared for such attention in a pair of artistically ripped beyond tight denim jeans– and succulently slender legs –which were also terribly on-display thanks to a newly acquired pair of boots that encased the greater part of Yugi's calf making the limbs seem longer–.

What ticked Yami off most, however, was the fact that while these teens –mostly MALES- stared on in gluttonous joy, Yugi himself seemed completely unaware of their stares. He was so naïve that it made Yami feel that much more an idiot for having left Yugi to his own for so long.

The boy needed protection from the world.

"_I think someone is just covering up their own feelings here,"_ a little voice whispered in the back of Yami's mind.

'_I have no idea what you're talking about,' _Yami growled back at the voice while keeping a careful eye on a brunette passing by. The stranger's hands looked a little too likely to reach out and do inappropriate things for Yami's comfort.

(A/N: For some reason I have the mental image of a Miroku look-alike walking past….ugh equal opportunist molester Miroku that's just…brrr)

"_You know exactly what I'm talking about, __**Atemu,"**_the voice almost snarled in reply. "_You push it aside and bury it inside but I know the REAL truth! The fact of the matter is that you are-"_

"Nero! Nizuki! Nice to see you!" Yugi's voice broke into Yami's thoughts suddenly. The ex-pharaoh looked up and saw the two people he least wanted to see today leaning against the gates of Kaiba Land.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?" Yami howled, particularly down at the cherub who was now hugging HIS light.

"Whoa, take an aspirin before that little twinge becomes a stroke would ya," Nizuki said with an almost sneer. She crossed her arms over her non-existent chest and leaned into Yami's personal space. "Nero and I happen to be living in Domino City as well, if you haven't noticed, and it is our right to go wherever we wish. If you have a problem with Nero then be a man and address the issue directly. Pussy-footing around like this is not only sad but it's very weak too."

Yami's whole head heated in a mix of anger and shame. Bakura's cousin really freaked him out with her ability to stare right through a person. It wasn't empathy that made her do it; it was like…like she'd seen it all and understood the way a human soul worked down to its most minute insecurities.

"Nizuki say she going to come on bumper-carts with me!" Nero smiled with joy. Yugi wrapped his arms around Nero and gently patted the boy's crown of curls.

"Is that so? Well maybe Yami and I will join you then, bumper-cars are always more fun when there are more people you know riding with you."

"Ya, it's a greeeeeeeeeat way to see people's hidden aggressions," Nizuki smirked.

"_Heh! She must've noticed the maniacal look on your face,__** Atemu,"**_the voice snorted, "_now you can't bash Nero's car out of the park like you wanted to."_

'_Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP!'_

"_Sorry, no can do. Until you start thinking right I've got to stick around. I'm not letting you pull our life down the drain with your stupidity," _the little voice said with such contempt Yami could only imagine it as a mini-smirking Seto look-alike.

"-ami! Yami, come on, snap out of it, we're going in," Yugi's voice interrupted Yami again as the younger star-head pulled him through the turn-gates of the park.

"Sorry aibou I just uh…I just feel uncomfortable with those two around. I want you all to myself today," Yami said, slipping back into that charming persona he'd horrified Yugi with that morning.

Yugi really must have been more terrified than Yami had thought because the poor boy's whole frame shuddered (A/N: **Yami Masaka: **He's trembling with sexual excitement you moron) and he dropped Yami's hand as if it burned.

"We-well I g-guess we c-can…m-met them up later," Yugi said unsteadily.

"That would be perfect," Yami said taking Yugi's hand back in his own. And strangely Yami felt that he really did mean it in more than just a protective way. He was looking forward to just spending time with Yugi.

'_Spending time with him to keep him from being led astray!'_ Yami told himself frantically. The little voice snorted at that but didn't comment.

Yugi left Yami's hold for a moment to tell the two outsiders (A/N: in Yami's world view) of their intentions and as he did so Yami looked around, trying to assess his resources.

What was the best way to go about saving Yugi from bad influences? What would make Yugi realize that Atsushi was just going to end up hurting and humiliating him?

"Pssst! Yami! Yo, Yami, ova here!" someone hissed from behind. Yami looked over at Yugi once to make sure the little one was still busy explaining to the others then followed the familiar voice.

Behind a row of carnival-style games Yami met with the one asset he really needed. Joey, Otogi and Honda had all talked to Mokuba and –somehow- convinced mini-Seto to help them.

Apparently Mokuba's reasons for letting this happen were simply, and I quote, "it sounds like a hilarious idea perfect for some immature high-jinks! Things have been too boring around here so feel free to screw around as much as you want!"

Obviously Mokuba's young mind could not fully grasp the seriousness of this situation. Because of that, Yami decided not to hold it against the younger Kaiba that he'd called Yami's great strategy 'immature high-jinks.'

"Man, we thought you'd never get here! 'Togi and Honda were gettin' so bored they'd started playin' the arcade games and they made this stupid challenge ova who could win the most prizes and it was about to get bloody when-"

"That's great Joey, but I'll hear about it later! Right now we have to go over the plan to make sure everyone knows what they're doing," Yami interrupted.

"Dude, we talked about it like fifty times last night. You called all of us every other hour ALL NIGHT LONG to remind us!" Otogi moaned.

"Well there's been a complication to the master plan. Apparently Nizuki and the bra- Nero decided to show up here today," Yami hissed.

"Really? Wow that's convenient," Honda snickered.

"Honda! Since you find this so fun, why don't YOU take charge of misdirecting those two? Yugi and I will never get things done if we keep running into them," Yami smirked evilly.

"What? B-but, I don't want to! Can you imagine what that Nizuki-chick might do to me if she finds out this plan? I mean, we haven't really ever SEEN her get violent but I know a fighter when I see one and I have a feeling that Nizuki has the skills of a mercenary!" Honda whined. Yami just glared at him until Honda relented.

"Sucks to be you, dude," Otogi snickered.

"Otogi! You are in charge of Punk Intervention! That means you-"

"I know, I know, I get to play the molester bastard who just happens to act and sound a lot like Atsushi and you'll come in and rescue Yugi after I thoroughly freak him out making Yugi realize what a great protector you are and dumping Atsushi so he can be your little lap-light again," Otogi blanched.

"Bad chose of words," Yami said, giving Otogi's dice-earring a meaningful tug, "but correct. You want me to put the shadow-disguise on you now or-"

"How about I meet up with you around lunch? That way you'll have an excuse to be away for a few seconds, like you're picking up drinks or whatever, and I won't have to walk around in a freaky psychic-power suit all morning?" Otogi offered.

"Very well. Now you Joey…Joey?" Yami said turning back to the empty spot where the blonde had just been standing.

"Uh, I think he's probably already left to do his part …that or…he got tired of being treated like an underling and went off to get a chili-dog," Otogi shrugged.

"Hmph, fine, whatever, he knows what he has to do. I better head back to Yugi now, so remember we are here to steer Yugi back into the right, WHATEVER it takes understand!"

"Understood," Honda and Otogi nodded.

Yami gave his troops (A/N: heh-heh couldn't resist) an encouraging grin then darted back over to his waiting hikari.

"Think he's realized yet that he's more freaked out over the fact that Yugi's growing up and apart from him than the fact that Yugi's hanging around Atsushi?" Otogi asked once the sovereign was out of hearing range.

"You kidding me? Yami may be smart but when it comes to his own personal issues the guy is as dense as a brick; kinda like Joey that way," Honda said with a negative sweep of his hand.

Otogi snorted and grinned in agreement. The two stood around for a second longer then decided to move it on out. They had to 'save Yugi' after all.

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Yugi wasn't sure what was going on with Yami but he didn't like it. For weeks now Yugi had been trying to steel himself up to telling Yami about the Karaoke Club. He knew Yami had been worried about his various bruises and bouts of fatigue and had wanted to set Yami's mind at ease.

But every time he even started to mouth the first syllable of his club president's name Yami would start in with a weird little speech about how attractive the ride-attendants were –which Yugi agreed with, they WERE all dressed like duel monsters and let's just say, you didn't wear a Dark Magician Girl costume unless you knew you had to goods to keep the sheath-dress 'elevated'– or how dueling was really a great sport worthy of great admiration.

After the first two or three little sermons Yugi just tuned his other-half out. It was probably just that the guy needed a testosterone boosting. He had been in Tea's girly ballet-oriented fru-fru frill world for so long that anything masculine or even gender-neutral was probably like a god-sent to him.

What Yugi found most annoying, however, was Yami's habit of steering him around. Twice already Yugi had tried to walk over to a new-feature of the park –a sound-booth where you could record yourself singing a song from the list of music available–without managing to so much as reach the line-up. Not to mention that Yugi hadn't had a chance to so much as talk to another living-soul besides Yami since they'd split up from the angels. Yugi had noticed a boy from the Karaoke Club –a new member who'd come with the embarrassing goal of learning to sing by White Day so he could serenade the girl of his dreams- in the line for the Spirit-Spinner (A/N: a ride) and had leaned over to say hello when Yami suddenly grabbed him by the sweater-neck and hauled him off to another ride muttered 'this line is too long' under his breath along with a choice few Egyptian curse words that Yami didn't know Yugi had looked up.

"M…mou hitori no boku," Yugi said hesitantly. He decided that if he wanted to get Yami to explain himself he better make sure the other knew he was serious, and nothing was more serious than THAT particular nickname. "Is…is there something wrong?"

The twitch of Yami's shoulder was so small that Yugi was probably the only person in the world who would've noticed it. It meant Yami was hiding something.

"No-nothing is the matter, hikari," Yami grinned at him with that polished smile. Yugi wanted to jab him in the gut for daring to think he could pull that one over on him but decided to try another route first.

"I just notice that you're…you're not acting like yourself. Is there something going on with Tea? Because if that's it you know you can confide in me. I might not know much more than you about the opposite-gender but, you know, misery loves company, and if you can't handle her mood-swings by yourself I-"

"Tea and I are perfectly happy, Yugi," Yami said perhaps a little too quickly.

"_That's right, just ruuuub it in," _Yugi said both about himself and Yami. He hadn't figured it was a relationship problem but he had hoped…and now he had rubbed salt in a still very raw wound, just great. If Yugi cried now then Yami would never leave him alone, and not in a good way either.

"I don't believe you, mou hitori no boku. You are acting way too-"

"Hey look the line over here isn't so long! Let's go Yugi!" Yami interrupted –YET AGAIN- Yugi by grabbing the boy by the shoulder and hauling him off to the Tunnel of Ghouls ride.

"_Yami, what are you hiding from me?" _Yugi thought grumpily.

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Joey was the official Opportunity Take Advantage Of-er, or at least that the title Joey had decided upon after hearing Yami's long, vague and yet strangely detailed description of his duties.

Basically, if you ignored all the technical stuff that Yami puffed the title out with, Joey was responsible for giving Yami and Yugi all the opportunities to talk and 'convert' as possible.

That meant that Joey could do pretty much anything he wanted to his best pals all in the name of bettering their relationship. Heh, if Yami hadn't been so paranoid the ex-spirit would've realized just how much…fun…a guy could have with that job.

"So what you want me to do is wait until Yami and Yugi's boat gets into the middle of the ride…then shut it down AND, what was it you just said, crank the 'scare-thrill level on the ride up to heart-attack levels', is that right?" Mokuba asked the blonde while the two settled into the control-room.

"That's right. You heard Yami's reasons for doin' this but I…well…I guess I'm a little more like you in thinkin' we need to spice things up around here. Yami and Yugi always do work better durin' a crisis, and what better crisis can there be than getting' stuck on a little boat in a tunnel of horror ride…where all the employees seem to have gone nutso?" Joey snickered evilly.

Mokuba's mouth twitched and it looked like he'd laugh for a minute, but he contained himself. "Well…I don't know…"

"Come oooon! Think a' all the times Yami has ever done somethin' to ya that you just hated. It's the perfect revenge, he can't complain 'cuz it's his stupid plan," Joey said, his grin growling even wider.

Mokuba's own evil smirk finally broke free and the little pre-teen burst into a fit of not-so innocent laughter. "Well when you put it that way, I guess I can do it. You're a really shrewd negotiator, Joey."

"Shhh, don't let it get around. If people start takin' me seriously I can't get 'em to promise wild stuff…oh and uh…Mokuba…we won't have to deal with…ya know…Seto comin' in here for a surprise inspection or anythin'…right?"

"Big brother is busy with about a thousand other nitty-gritty corporate details. He's got lunch meetings until well into the evening and between those meetings he's harassing his lawyer pounding out the details for his deal on a branch corporate that will take care of American dueling interests…so no, I don't think we'll have to worry about Seto coming around…though…if you don't mind, do you mind if I give him a copy of the security footage of all this? I think it will be a really good birthday gift!" Mokuba pleaded.

"…Well…as long as I don't get any shit for this…do whatever," Joey said uncomfortably.

"Excellent! Oh! Here they come! I better call the ride manager," Mokuba said picking up his two-way.

Joey watched on one of the many monitors as his two friends naively entered the ride.

"_This ain't nothin' against you, Yug'. But your other-self has really been getting' on my nerves actin' like he's still some super hero. I'm just gonna knock him down a peg or two…and if I mend fences between you two in the process…well I guess that's just one step more I've taken inta payin' ya back for all the stuff you've done for me ova the years," _Joey thought almost like a small prayer, or a cosmic plea.

He watched Yugi looking at the small double-seater with great hesitation then finally allow the costumed Clown Zombie to help load him into the raft.

"_Good luck, bud," _Joey snickered.

(A/N: This little scene has two purposes. One is to assure all you little worried reviewers out there that Joey still cares for his bestest buddy, but he's just having some issues coming to terms with Yugi's sexuality **cough**andhisown**cough** as well as…well adding to the plot. PLUS Mokuba just HAD to have a moment in this story! I love that poor kid! He's like…like…well…honestly he's like the human-side of Seto. Mokuba's interactions with Yugi-tachi are what Seto's would be if…you know…Seto wasn't the icy-corporate-bastard that he is. AND NO ONE MENTION THE FACT THAT I'VE BEEN SWEARING MORE OKAY!! I KNOW!!)

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Nizuki wasn't dumb. She wasn't even preoccupied. She noticed Honda was following them. Oh, the boy tried to hide, she'd give him that…but with his height, hair and particular aura –he had this whole understated hero thing going for him- there was no real hiding.

For a while Nizuki gave him a hard time, wandering over to wherever Yugi happened to be, making Honda come up with ridiculous excuses for misdirecting them –he'd tried to get away with saying that one ride was radioactive and would be closed to all people without 'invisible radiation suits' for the next thirty-minutes- but after a while Nizuki gave in and just stuck to 'her' side of the amusement park.

If she needed to she could not only vanish from sight completely and reappear at Yugi's side, but she could also communicate with him mentally through her plush and cuddle Nero-phone.

So, for once, Nizuki contented herself with the fact that things were in motion and she relaxed. She went on rides; she played games, and generally did what most people did at amusement parks.

Nero was having a harder time letting things be.

"Is Nizuki-nee SURE that we should interrupt Yami and Yugi-sama's date," Nero said around a mouthful of cotton-candy.

"I'm sure. I mean, the absence making the heart grow fonder rule I set up has already done its part. Yami is practically swimming in desperation. He may not realize it himself but he really is attached to Yugi. I say we just let em be and hope for the best. After all, they have to set up their relationship themselves otherwise it doesn't count. We can't confess Yugi's feelings for him," Nizuki said, peeling a large chunk of the pink fluff off Nero's cone, rolling it between her finger and popping it into her mouth.

"But…it just not feel right. I don't know why…is like…we cannot let relationship be set up yet…there something about Yami-san I think not ready for it," Nero pouted.

"…Maybe that's true…" Nizuki sighed heavily. "But we have to let this happen. If nothing else it might just flush out Yami's problems. And if we know exactly what the hang-up is we can straighten it out."

Nizuki subtly looked behind her to check on the uni-spike haired teen. The idiot was trying to blend in with a group of college-girls; he'd even stuffed a hat over his revealing hair in the attempt.

"Would it be mean of us to mess with Honda again?" Nizuki asked.

"Probably," Nero sighed, "you sometimes way too mean for angel, Nizuki-nee, you know that?"

"Ya well…that's what makes me an angel like no other," Nizuki said, her hand drifting to her shoulder-blade where her wings would normally protrude.

Nero watched the motion with concern and confusion. This was the second time Nizuki had said something about not being a very angelic angel, and it was starting to worry him a little. Nizuki was the toughest angel he knew and yet…he knew from Nakagato that she was perhaps also one of the most stressed angels as well. From what the Gabriel Trainer had hinted at, Nizuki had too work twice as hard at being benign and spiritually-uplifting as another guardian angel of the same age and cases-accomplished record.

"Oooh! Hey look at that Nercomage doll at that booth! Ryou would love that!" Nizuki suddenly burst into a grin, running over to an arcade-game booth.

Nero giggled happily at Nizuki's suddenly bright spirits and followed after her. Maybe he was over-thinking things; after all he wasn't a guardian angel so he didn't have the credentials to judge the soul-state of others.

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Yugi timidly stepped into the boat and scrunched away from the water puddle on the small bench. He wasn't sure why Yami wanted to go on this particular ride but at least it wasn't another roller-coaster.

Yami waited until Yugi was settled then he got in himself and pulled the safety-bar down over both their laps

"Oooookay ghouls and gals, remember the safety rules: don't rock the boat, don't try to disengage the handle-bar and….try not to scream BWAHAHAHAHA!!" the ride-attendant said in a faux-scary voice. Much to Yugi's and Yami's chagrin the lame zombie voice was still enough to cause some girl ahead of them to shriek.

(A/N: Mental image of Akane now…wow I'm dragging in a lot of outer-anime characters into this aren't I?)

"This can't be any scarier than some of the duels we've faced," Yami sneered.

"Or being trapped in the Leviathan's soul-collection," Yugi laughed. Immediately after the words left his mouth, however, Yugi wished he could take them back. The whole 'Yugi-losing-his-soul-because-Yami-was-a-winning-obsessed-spirit-struggling-with-inner-darkness' subject was rather taboo within his group of friends.

No of those who'd lost their souls talked about what it felt like, and no one who'd lead to the soul-loss of others mentioned how terrifying it was to see their friends set up against them.

It was just altogether better if the subject was not mentioned. Not even a little. And definitely not as a joke.

"Ehhhh uh well um…maybe not…that but…well…you know…can't be worse than the stuff we've already gone through…like you said," Yugi stammered nervously.

He was so flustered in fact that he didn't notice the pair of green eyes winking out of the darkness behind him.

Yami simply clutched the safety-bar tight in his hands and said nothing. Yugi could see, even in the dim lighting of the ride, that Yami was grimacing and that his eyes were distant.

Not liking the thought of his other-half in mental agony Yugi reached over and wrapped his arms around Yami's torso. This brought Yami out of his thoughts faster than the threat of dying his hair fushia.

"You don't mind if I sit a little closer, do you?" Yugi said pretending that the subject was dead, "I know it's stupid but…well even if I'm not scared of this stuff…things jumping out at me really do freak me out.

"U-uh…s-sure…Y-Yu…sure aibou," Yami stammered nervously, his own arm coming hesitantly around Yugi's shoulder. "I-I understand…it's…no one likes to-to be surprised…right."

Yugi smiled and nuzzled into Yami's shoulder. Even if it hadn't been his intention to get snuggly with his other, he was pretty glad it turned out this way.

Almost oblivious to the holographic-ghosts and zombie-animatronics on either side of them the two star-heads floated down the little stream. They'd just reach the first of the few promised hills from which the boat would pitch down into utter darkness when suddenly everything came to a stand-still. Literally.

"What the?" Yami nearly cursed. Against safety policies Yugi nudge the boat slightly, hoping that maybe it'd get things going again.

"I guess the ride is stuck," Yugi shrugged.

Just then the dead man lunged out of hiding and flipping the boat over.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND **

**Masaka: **MWAHAAHA! FEAR MY CLIFFHANGER OF DOOM!!

**Yami Masaka:** Boooo! It needed more sap!

**Masaka: Waves anti-muse mallet tauntingly in front of Yami Masaka's face** What was that?

**Yami Masaka:** YAAAAY Great chapter!!!

**Masaka:** Much better

**Yugi: **Since it's doubtful Masaka will find another chance to update this month, HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!


	29. Open Graves Do Angry Corpses Suggest

**Masaka: **I'm being eeeeevil and not starting off the chapter with where the cliffff-haaanger left things! I'm making my readers suuuuuuffer, just because I caaaaaaaaaaan

**Yami Masaka:** You are working on a plot, not torturing anyone, get over it

**Masaka:** h-hey why are you undermining my evil moment, huh? I-I mean how do YOU know I'm not torturing people, huh? I mean how do you know I couldn't have done the cliff-hanger part FIRST and then put this in?

**Yami Masaka: Rolls eyes** Hikari mine I know your plots, I know your brain. You cannot even TRY to act dark and evil because the worst you ever are is grumpy

**Masaka:** Not true I have a reeeeeeally evil side! I do!

**Yami Masaka: **Yah I know, it's called your perfectionist-self and you have it sitting around in a cage in your brain like some warped version of the Kyuubi, except this dame can escape and rampage at any given moment. You have very little darkness in your heart….and what darkness you DO have is mostly manifested in ME

**Masaka: Annoyed chibi stance** I am dark! I am! I am evil! I am!!!

**Nero: **Now time for creepy zombie-filled, fist-bashing, demon whispering, heart-crushing mass havoc chapter!! **Shudders and looks over to side of screen** I not like creepy stuff…maybe I should go run make exit to some other authoress notes while Masaka busy

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Normally Ryou was opposed to this sort of thing, a date with an older person to an unknown place when there was studying to be done; but for Darrin, the white-haired boy was willing to take a chance.

It was the perfect opportunity after all. Nizuki had her hands full with demon research and looking after Yugi and wouldn't be able to hassle him for hours until everything was over. And Nero was with her, which made the situation even better.

There was no one, not anyone, around to make Ryou feel self-conscious, bashful, or nervous.

"It's perfect," Ryou sighed happily as he looked himself over in the mirror.

Recently, in the last month, Nizuki had taken it upon herself to give both Ryou and Yugi the fashion makeover of their lives, and while Nizuki SEEMED to be the type to cause clothing-educed teenager trauma, the angel's suggestions had actually been very helpful and even, more or less, appropriate.

FLASHBACK START 

How Nizuki had gotten a hold of Yugi's funds was a mystery, but what was even more mysterious was how the angel had managed the get the two hikaris into a semi-risqué boutique without having to resort to more violent measures.

_Both hikaris had stood against the wall of the store, buggy-eyed and blushing, completely perplexed at their current predicament watching Nizuki charge through the racks of clothing like a mad woman._

"_Oh it's so FUN when you get involved with a Seer Case! You get to do all sorts of fun stuff that you never get to do with a standard case like harass bullies, cause cute bishonen blushes AND you get to play DRESS-UP!" Nizuki had cackled out-loud while she browsed._

"_Nizuki, please remember, we don't get to wear casual clothing all that often. For the most part we just wear our school uniforms, so don't get overexcited!" Ryou had said, warily holding his hands up in a passive manner. Nizuki had completely ignored the gesture, shoving a large mound of clothing into the boy's arms._

"_Try this on! It will look great on you!" Nizuki had grinned with almost maniac like joy etched across her face._

_Ryou had stared at the clothing in his arms for a long moment and then, as if in a dream, realized exactly what he was holding._

"_L-Leather p-pants!?"_

FLASHBACK END 

Despite Ryou's initial rejection, however, Nizuki had gotten him to try the garment on and…surprisingly…it looked good on him.

The design was simple straight-legged and form-hugging from the knees up. There weren't any flashy lace-ups or unnecessary zippers, just the taunt, tight, caramel cappuccino colored leather, softer than a baby's belly. These awe-inspiring pants hugged Ryou's waistline, tilting temptingly in a slight v towards his groin without every really dipping down all that much.

To match with them Nizuki had also shoved an off-white, sort of tea-stained colored, shirt, with a sort of 1800s cowboy flare to it at Ryou. It had lace around the neck, but in a more or less masculine way, as well as lace around the cuffs. It too was tight, and it didn't sit lower than Ryou's bellybutton, but somehow the usually shy white-haired seventeen-year old hadn't minded.

(A/N: I think I said Yugi was sixteen-years old before didn't I….oops?)

All together, with a pair of caramel-colored leather boots and a tasseled-belt, Ryou looked…he looked HOT. And that was a new feeling for Ryou. To look attractive in his own right, he meant. Most of the time whenever Ryou had worn anything of quality it had been his dark that'd decided on it, and Bakura's style was too masculine for Ryou's much more delicate frame and disposition.

"…Darrin, prepare to be dazzled," Ryou said to his reflection wit h a small smile. Immediately after the words left his mouth a blush to shame an Arizona sunset rose on the boy's cheeks.

"Oh! Oh my, where on earth did that come from? I…Nizuki is such a bad influence!" Ryou gapped, holding a hand over his mouth, as if that would somehow hold in any other un-Ryou-like expressions.

The doorbell rang downstairs and, with one final look over his reflection, Ryou darted off to answer it.

As he had suspected Darrin was the one waiting at the door. Per usual, the brunette had an effortless style to him and a smile that just edged on cockiness.

He was dressed slightly more stylishly than usual, wearing a new-design emerald cashmere sweater and black business pants. His shoes were a slightly more polished variation of his seemingly unending supply of dress-shoes.

Ryou had never seen him in anything less formal, shoe-wise.

"Well, well, well," Darrin said, his eyes scanning Ryou slowly and almost intrusively up and down, "this is QUITE a surprise. I thought you lived in your many denim jeans and adorable little sweaters."

"I-I just thought it would…b-be fitting to dress-up…g-given the occasion," Ryou blushed fuchsia.

"Hmm, if that's the case I should definitely make it a point to ask you out more, you are absolutely ravishing; I'm having a hard time keeping my hands to myself."

The blush cranked up to some radical, probably unhealthy, shade of maroon.

Ryou whirled around and locked the front door (not that he needed to, Bakura was going to be back soon anyway) and took a few deep, DEEP breaths before turning back around.

"Shall we go," Darrin asked offering his hand to Ryou in a very gentlemanly fashion. Ryou blushed and took the hand.

"Thank you for finally agreeing to go out with me, I promise you that you'll enjoy yourself like you never have before," Darrin smirked.

A strange almost panicked stir rose up in Ryou's chest, probably brought on by the realization that he was dating someone with… you know…_experience, _but Ryou quickly suppressed the sensation.

"_Come on you fuddy-duddy, get it together. This is the first date you've gone on in WAY too long, so enjoy it. That's what Nizuki has been trying to teach you, isn't it? To enjoy yourself," _some small part of Ryou's brain scoffed.

'_I don't think Nizuki had dating a guy and getting swept off your feet and swooned into oblivion in mind as a way to be happier,' _Ryou's more pessimistic side humphed.

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As a general rule the Tunnel Of Horror ride's rafters were not meant to be flipped over. Most people would even say they couldn't be flipped over.

In certain intervals in the ride a hook at the bottom of the boat caught onto a rotating track. This mechanism was used for pulling the boat up the slopes and for catching the boat at the bottom of these slopes.

However, for a zombie with unnatural strength none of these things mattered. Whether or not something was meant to remain stationary had little influence over the undead's decisions. So when I say that the boat that Yugi and Yami were floating was flipped over, I do mean was flipped over.

One shining moment Yugi was snuggling into Yami feeling closer to the ex-pharaoh than he had in many months, and the next he was holding his breath, trying to get the safety bar to disengage.

A shrill emergency siren went off in the ride as the little raft slide down the slope where it had stopped, nearly plowing into the next craft in the line-up.

All up and down the tunnel people started screaming, not because of cheap animatronics, but because there was something WRONG!

The zombie stood on the slope, his feet holding onto the small grove where the coaster-track was positioned underwater. Its mud-stained clothing hung very loosely from its mostly skeletal form, wearing not the traditional suit and tie of a lovingly buried corpse but rather a rather sad tattered school-uniform of a bad that had been dumped in the nearest available pit.

The creature might have been a student at one time, but now it looked like a nightmarish mix between a concentration camp survivor and a wax-doll.

Almost pleasantly it stood on that slope, hands hanging casually at its side, watching as its two victims struggled to find the surface.

Behind him another zombie -this one not as authentic looking- was screaming and yelling.

"Holy Christ on a pancake! What the hell do you think you're doing? Master Mokuba said to SCARE those two, not kill them!" the man yelled.

"Grrraausssssh?" the dead man asked. His jaw muscles were mostly deteriorated and his cheeks were starting to fall away from the rest of his face making it really hard to articulate himself.

The 'live zombie' jumped off the scenes and it the water, charging meaningfully over to the dead one's side.

"G-grraaaauuuushhh!" the poor dead man sniffled, holding his arms up to defend himself.

"You are so going down for this you as-" the man broke off. While he'd been screaming he'd reached out and grabbed one of the zombie's arms, which had then promptly fallen off in his grasp.

For a moment neither one of the two men said anything. The living zombie looked at the severed arm as did the dead zombie.

Finally the living zombie seemed to understand what had just happened and threw the arm away and took off towards the exit at Mach-7! (A/N: Technically he'd be dead if he ran that fast but…)

"OOOOOH MMMMMYYYYY GODDDDDD!!" the man's screams echoed behind him.

The zombie watched his detached arm float away from him with minimal interest.

(A/N: OMG! …I just traumatized some poor working stiff….err sorry living zombie dude)

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Yami's heroic instincts were pretty much this: beat the hell out of whatever was causing the problem, keep Yugi close at all times, blow the hell out of however had set up the thing that had caused the problem, tend to Yugi's any injuries, collapse from exhaustion.

So that's what Yami started to do. He shadow-blasted the safety-bar that was holding him down. Grabbed Yugi. Shadow blasted the raft that was keeping them from reaching the surface. Tugged Yugi along after him. Swam over to the edge of the stream and hauled Yugi up onto the ground with him.

Of course by then Yami was so worn out he wasn't able to complete his usual other steps of checking over Yugi for injuries and blowing up the zombie and he skipped straight to the part where he collapsed from exhaustion.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Yugi was becoming a bit of an expert on injuries. He knew the difference between a sprain and a torn ligament, he knew the difference between a skin bruise and a muscular bruise….And he knew the difference between a headache and a concussion, and this pain he felt in his head right now was defiantly a concussion.

With a pitiful whimper, more suited to a road-weary kitten than any teenager with masculine quality, Yugi sat up, holding his head and trying to figure out where he was.

His eyes were drawn to his left side where he saw Yami, dripping wet, on his stomach, sleeping heavily.

(A/N: I know I heard a fangirl scream just now, who was it? Why does Yami + water squeal, no matter what the particulars of the situation? …I'm watching you fan squealers, just know that…watching you)

'_He did it again; always saving my life whether I need him to or not,' _Yugi thought fondly.

For a long time, Yami's persistence to protect him had annoyed the hell out of Yugi. He may not have looked it, but he had always been a rather independent kid. When one parent died and another parent ran off, you had to be.

When Yami would take over his body, Yugi would be beset by an emotional wash of both relief and soul-deep agitation.

Yugi knew how to cook for both himself and his grandfather (who was notorious about choosing the worst food for his heart making Yugi's work that much harder) and he knew how to clean, and organize receipts, and tally incomes.

He knew how to climb over a chain-link fence without shredding his shirt. He knew how to patch up torn clothing, and how to beat the hell out of temperamental water-heater (and consequently how to bandage up bruised fists that came from beating the hell out of said water-heater).

And yet, as far as Yami was concerned, all of these skills meant squat. The fact that Yugi could handle himself meant little to the ex-spirit when he sensed unease in his partner's soul.

It wasn't until his first duel with Kaiba that Yugi began to really accept the other's help. When Yami had talked about protecting those he loved and keeping them from harm…all Yugi's anger had just sort of melted away.

Now a days, Yugi didn't even put up a resistance to Yami's aide. He knew it made Yami feel better when he could provide security for his partner…and it made Yugi feel happy to know there was someone in his life that had protective instincts for him.

"GRRRRRASSSH!!" a howl echoed from behind, rattling Yugi out of his sentimental thoughts.

Yugi whipped around to look behind him and saw, through the blurry waves that were caused by fast motions during head trauma, the zombie student roaring to the ceiling.

Yugi noticed for the first time that the zombie had blondish hair.

"Uh-guuh!" Yugi whimpered, clutching his stomach.

He didn't have Jounouchi's absolute phobia of all things creepy, but to a certain extent Yugi couldn't stand the supernatural either. Especially the undead. Dead things should remain dead things because….because if they didn't…that meant that…it meant that….

"Blllurgh!" Yugi coughed, splattering a fake tombstone with a nice digestive mixture.

"Hnnn…Yugi…aibou, are you alright?" Yami asked, obviously overcoming his exhaustion to come over and rub Yugi's back.

"I- I'm fine," Yugi said, holding a hand nervously over his mouth.

"No, you're not, what is it?" Yami asked.

"Really, really hate walking dead things….can't stand…dead things," Yugi moaned, squeezing his eyes firmly closed.

Strangely enough at that moment the boy's mind-link flared to life, showing Yami the briefest glimpse of one of Yugi's oldest memories.

_A church, white walks, black clothing, the smell of too much perfume, long aisle leading up to a coffin._

"Yugi?" Yami questioned. He wasn't sure what to make of this scene.

"I'm gonna puke again!" Yugi winced.

That snapped Yami out of his curious funk. He pressed his hand firmly against Yugi's back and let out the faintest burst of shadows.

Healing magic had always been Mahaado's forte, but after one too many experiences of fig-fruit overload- (A/N: Do many people know that eating too many figs causes you to vomit? Well it does, eat only like two or three otherwise you'll be revisiting those fruits very shortly) –Yami had learned a small spell to shadow-expel nausea.

For a minute or two, Yugi still lurched as if he were about to really throw-up, but finally he relaxed, slumping against the ex-pharaoh like a bone-less chicken nugget.

(A/N: Boneless…what? Man, I really am losing it!)

"Thank you," Yugi smiled weakly.

'_So sweet,'_ Yami thought. He brushed the thought aside and grinned modestly.

"Glad to help."

"GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" another scream came from further up the tunnel.

It seemed that the zombie was not particularly well directed because instead of chasing down the two star-heads it was just wadding through the water, knocking over the fake scenery and making a nuisance of itself.

Strangely its wild motions reminded Yugi of the lions and wolves at the zoo. While the predators had been terrifying, they hadn't really been all that threatening. It was like this zombie and those animals had both been sent off to do damage without really getting properly instructed. As if the person setting them to work was just a little too hurried, or a little too unused to having to think every action through.

"I wanna go home!" Yugi whimpered, burying his face in the crook of Yami's neck.

"Shh, shh, it's okay Yugi," Yami said soothingly.

Again that same memory flash came to mind.

_Black clothing, white walls, an aisle leading up to a coffin, a sobbing woman's figure, a feeling of confusion and loneliness, a priest saying words he didn't really understand._

_And that coffin, that coffin, it seemed to take up his whole line of vision. There was something bad about that coffin but he didn't what to think what it was. If he acknowledged those feelings then …then…_

"Yugi!" Yami rasped, clutching his chest in pain. Yugi was shocked into shutting down the mind-link and the phantom pain fled out of Yami's body.

"W-what is that…that memory?" Yami asked his aibou.

"OH MY GOD! Y-you saw that, you felt…Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't mean to…you shouldn't have to feel…I-I'm sorry," Yugi shivered miserably.

"Yugi…what was that memory?" Yami said more seriously, gripping Yugi's upper arms in an iron grip making his other-half face him.

Yugi's purple eyes, which had always been so expressive, seemed almost glassy when Yami looked into them. They refused to betray the secrets of their master. And that strangely ticked Yami off.

"YUGI!" Yami growled.

"Stop badgering me, you bastard! We have more important things to worry about or have you not noticed the dead guy messing up Kaiba's ride?" Yugi wailed, squirming with all his might in Yami's grip.

"It's not doing anything that bad, I can probably take care of it with a single blast of shadow magic, so the sooner you answer me the sooner that dumb cadaver can go back into its tomb," Yami frowned deeply.

Yugi refused to face him, his cheeks stained crimson with embarrassment and rage. Obviously Yugi wanted to just break away, but Yami wasn't going to let him oooooh no, not this time. This time Yugi wasn't going to give him that little geki grin of his and change the subject. He wasn't going to leave Yami to wonder whether or not the problem was that bad. He wasn't going to make Yami suffer that uncertainty.

Yami cared way too much about his other-half to let him suffer alone like this! And whether the boy wanted it or not Yami was going to take on his share of the burden!

"Well? Yami asked.

(A/N: Note the fact that Yami's thoughts towards aibou are getting rather passionately aggressive)

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Ryou had to work really hard to not just burst out of his skin. It seemed like every nerve in his body was tingling; a single touch could scorch him to death.

Darrin was the absolute perfect date. He was courteous, funny and he had great taste.

He'd taken Ryou to a little café the boy had never seen before where the air smelled intoxicatingly of clover honey and cinnamon and where there were blues singers and saxophone players wooing the hearts of the audience every hour of every day.

He'd then gentlemanly settled Ryou into his chair and ordered them the most delicious lunch that Ryou had ever tasted.

And when Darrin had noticed Ryou dreamily listening to the music he had suggested that the pair stay there for a little while longer and had gotten a new set of drinks.

The fact that Darrin's hand had stroked gentle lines up and down Ryou's arms while they'd listened probably didn't hurt either.

"Enjoying yourself?" Darrin asked with a plainly curious smirk, like he didn't know Ryou was in bliss.

"Y-Yes…v-very much so," Ryou blushed, trying desperately to keep his heart from clogging up his throat.

"Good," Darrin smiled warmly. The beguiling voice of the current singer floated over the couple's booth drawing Darrin's attention away from his blushing companion back to the stage.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night," the young lady sang, her voice carrying the slightest wisp, making the song that much more tender, "Take these broken wings and learn to fly."

A strange look overcame the older male's face and his grip upon his drink tightened considerably.

"All your life  
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly  
Into the light of the dark black night."

"Zubarro-sem…Darrin-sempai…w-what's wrong," Ryou asked timidly.

"Uh…it's nothing," Darrin coughed unconvincingly. He turned away for a moment, but his eyes were drawn back to the stage.

"Black bird singing in the dead of night  
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see  
all your life  
you were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly  
Into the light of the dark black night."

"Darrin-" Ryou started to speak but before he could finish Darrin pushed away from the table and walked off to the back of the restaurant leaving Ryou alone and confused.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night  
Take these broken wings and learn to fly  
All your life  
You were only waiting for this moment to arise, oh  
You were only waiting for this moment to arise, oh  
You were only waiting for this moment to arise."

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Trika was QUITE enjoying herself. She had found a very good cemetery to work her black-magic on and she was causing the most delicious screams. All she needed now was for a little light soul to come sailing over to her and all would be right with the world.

"Perfect," Trika sighed, folding her arms behind her head and leaning back onto the headstone.

The mirror of magic in front of her was showing her the inside of the tunnel of screams, or whatever it was called, showing her exactly how miserable the _estúpido light _was in the face of her newest trick.

"Now if only I had some chocolates to nibble on," Trika sighed miserably, brushing the ruffles of her skirt back into place.

Suddenly, with a pop, a dark figure appeared at her side looking malevolent and annoyed.

"Mistress…what are you doing?"

"Oh _pet _you're here, come look at the _delicious pain _I set up for that little-" Trika began to cackle when she saw exactly how PISSED the man looked. "What's the matter with you? Your mission _ido agrio_ already?"

"I thought we had discussed this, Mistress. You CANNOT win a soul by terrifying the owner of said soul. You cannot kill the person and snatch the soul away from the corpse you cannot pull the soul out of a person with your bare claws…why on earth are you wasting our starlight budget on these stupid tricks. I told you that everything we need has been set in place and-"

"But _Mi Amooooooor _your plan is just too…too…ick! Too INVOVLED! I don't see why I can't just torture little Yugi here with something _oscuridad y deliciosoto_ to traumatize his little soul into denouncing the light."

The dark figure let out an almighty groan and rubbed its temples. Even though his very soul demanded that he show fealty to the succubus it was still taking all his patience to be good at it.

"Mistress…I agree it is very dark and delicious to torment this innocent with such terrible memories…however, this will NOT make him denounce the light. He has an ANGEL with him! He will hold to the light steadfast through all types of troubles! ALL you are doing it pushing the boy and his dark one closer together, which is BAD! We will have plenty of time to torment him later, after we have obtained his soul and dragged it to Hell with us. So, I beg you, stop messing around before you RUIN the web I have painstakingly set out for your ultimate pleasure and LET ME WORK!"

"…So your mission didn't fail?" the Latina succubus blinked.

The dark figure groaned again and shook off the migraine that was begging to take over his skull.

"I kid, I kid!" Trika laughed shrilly, "I understand _mi oscuro amor, _I was just getting a little stir-crazy…and whether you think so or not I think this little trip into dark memories will indeed help us. After all…why would any soul hang onto life…after seeing just how much they are unwanted?"

"If you believe it is so, it is so mistress. I live only to obey your every wish…now I must depart…I have…I have to save my claim from…neglect…" the man bowed, his voice dropping off into softer and softer tones.

"You better not be flaking out on me, I know that your role is very difficult but should you fail I will personally eat your liver out of your very body," Trika said flashing a mouthful of razor-sharp fangs.

"Understood," the man said before vanishing.

Trika looked at her mirror for a long moment then sighed and released the magic holding the spell together. She then drove her fist into the earth and dug around until she wrenched out a plump and fleshy leg. She sank her fangs into it and gave an almighty 'HMPH!'

"This is taking WAY too long!"

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Nizuki felt the chill of darkness brush across her skin like a familiar enemy. She'd been super-sensitive to shadows for years and even the tiniest hit of demonic aura could give her a serious case of goose bumps.

This wasn't a tiny hint.

Nizuki had been preparing to prank Honda again when the spell lit up her senses.

"Here too? What in His name is going on?" Nizuki growled, clenching her teeth together angrily. She fisted her hand and started to charge off in the direction of the power-surge when unexpectedly Nero tackled her to the ground.

"SILVER STARLIGHT!" Nizuki swore as her forehead nearly played basketball with the sidewalk. "Nero! What are you doing?"

"No, Nizuki-nee! No running off to stop this!" Nero said his voice strangely haggard.

Nizuki rolled over under Nero so that she could come face to face with the little angel. Nero sat on her stomach with a statuesque expression on his face and tears on his cheeks.

"Hey? Little one, what's wrong?" Nizuki frowned in worry.

"I…I not know…just…something deep inside me is saying we should not interfere…that this will be….that whatever happens will be for Yugi-sama's own good…and…and…"

"And for some reason, despite everything else, you trust that feeling?" Nizuki questioned with a faint smile.

"I know it not make sense but-" Nero began to sob, but he stopped when Nizuki reached up a hand and gently cupped Nero's cheek.

"You really were an awful student in Heaven weren't you?" Nizuki said with a teasing grin.

"I JUST-" Nero began to wail. Nizuki interrupted him again by putting a hand over his mouth.

"Nero, that sensation you just felt is a heavenly impulse, an instinct that comes directly from Upper Powers…it's a sign of a budding ability to guard," Nizuki laughed warmly.

In that moment you could have probably knocked Nero over with a feather. His eyes were just as wide as Yugi's, if not wider, and his entire frame was slack.

"A…guardian…sensation…"

"Welcome to the fold, kiddo," Nizuki winked.

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Ryou was getting really worried. Darrin had been gone for a good ten minutes and it didn't seem like the green-eyed man was in any hurry to return.

'_Am I that bad of company that he had to run off?'_ Ryou thought. The boy then strongly shook his head. _'No! No! Don't think like that Ryou! You are perfectly acceptable company, and even if you weren't, Darrin-sempai isn't the type of guy who'd just ditch you…I hope…ARRRGH! Just get up and go look for him, you twit!'_

With a little more force than necessary Ryou heaved himself out of his chair and stalked over to the darkened corner of the café where he'd seen his date stalk off to.

Ready for anything Ryou darted past the partition that divided the small bistro never in half…and came to a dead halt.

His face buried in his hands, Darrin was leaning against the far back wall, shuddering with silent tears.

"Darrin….sempai?" Ryou called out in worry.

His date looked up in shock, his eyes wet and slightly panicked.

"Ryou? Oh shit! Oh, I that is…I was just," Darrin said hastily rubbing his sleeves over his face in a very unsuccessful attempt to hide his tears.

"Oh Darrin-sempai, what's wrong," Ryou asked, walking up to his date and taking the man's much larger hands into his own.

"I…it's stupid…never mind I should have just-" Darrin said in embarrassment.

"Shh, shh," Ryou soothed reaching up and brushing his fingers over the tear-tracks on Darrin's face.

Darrin's eyes widened in surprise at the act then closed in contentment. He leaned heavily into Ryou's palm.

"Now…please tell me what's wrong," Ryou cooed.

"I…that song…my sister loved that song a lot and…I don't know I just can't stand hearing it anymore," Darrin explained.

This caught Ryou off-guard. Darrin had a sister? Was she…could Darrin-sempai be suffering from the same type of pain Ryou was?

(A/N: I never addressed Ryou's sister before because…well it's an old wound that Nizuki has more tact to address bluntly))

"Darrin-sempai," Ryou sighed heavily. "You…your sister is dead, isn't she?"

Darrin flinched like he'd just been struck, moving away from Ryou's palm in the motion.

"It was an accident…an accident …I…I should have…I should have been able to…I should have looked after her better…"

"It's okay Darrin-sempai," Ryou frowned.

"No! No you don't understand! I'm her older brother! It's my job to…to," Darrin gave off an almost animalistic whimper and slid down the wall to his butt.

"Darrin-sempai!" Ryou said falling to his knees beside his date. "Darrin-sempai."

"I should have looked after her better," Darrin sobbed openly.

Ryou sighed heavily and clasped his hands in front of his heart. "Darrin-sempai…I understand your pain completely."

Darrin looked up at Ryou in surprise. Ryou smiled meekly.

"I had a little sister as well. Little Amane…she was so beautiful…pale as I am…only…only on her it didn't look pathetic…she was…so filled with life. She…she was hit by a car…while out shopping with my mother and there is not a day that goes by where I don't think…at least once…that maybe…if I had gone with them…that maybe…maybe I could have saved her from that…I understand how much the pain and guilt can weigh at your heart and make you feel like…life just isn't something you deserve…but please…Darrin-sempai…don't let that weight crush you…there is still reason to live….My friends…my father…my other…they all give me such strength just being part of my life…isn't there someone in your life worth living for sempai?"

Darrin looked at Ryou for a long moment, his eyes as blank as canvas. He sat up and cupping Ryou's cheek in his hand.

"There's you," Darrin sighed.

And they kissed.

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(A/N: Mwahahaha, yes I'm awful like that. I just flip all over the place)

When the zombie appeared the ride the two teens monitoring the ride both fell over in shock. Joey collapsed into a trembling ball of mush and Mokuba just chocked and gagged and stared.

Finally after an eternity of just staring the stubborn Kaiba blood in him shut down all the panic and made Mokuba reach for his radio.

"Kaito-san, the Tunnel of Horrors ride has malfunctioned, get people down there NOW!" Mokuba shouted.

"Yes sir," a gruff voice answered back before the line cut off. Mokuba sighed heavily and looked over at the video-recorder.

"I don't think I'll give this video to Seto after all…magic just annoys him," Mokuba said more to himself than the blonde before hitting the button marked erase.

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Yami was still waiting for Yugi's answer when suddenly the emergency exits of the ride where thrown open and a troop of security guards tromped in.

Yami grumbled under his breath a few choice unrepeatable words and turned away from his aibou to look after the security guards. It would be his responsibility to make sure they didn't get tangled up into some power struggle greater than themselves.

Freaking destiny.

"Yugi, wait here," Yami said putting his hands on Yugi's shoulders before moving to get up.

"NO! N-no! Don't leave!" Yugi whimpered grabbing Yami's hand and holding it like a child.

"I'm only going so far as the security guards over there, Yugi. I'll be right back," Yami smiled gently.

"Y-You say that but…b-but," Yugi whimpered.

Yami somehow knew that whatever Yugi had been thinking about was the cause of this little outburst and with an almighty groan he dropped back to Yugi's side.

"Yugi, I HAVE to go and take care of this. Once I do I SWEAR I'll come back and we'll get out of here…and you can tell me exactly what is going on inside your sweet little head making you so upset."

Yugi bit his lower-lip anxiously but nodded and let Yami's hand slip from his grip.

"O-okay…okay if you…if you swear," Yugi sniffled.

Yami smiled encouragingly at his other and went off to take care of business.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENEDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND**

**Masaka: **ARRRGGHHH! I had meant for this chapter to bring together more than this but it didn't work out that way!! TOOO MUUUUCH PLOOOOOT!!!

**Yami Masaka: **Well you had to get rid of that zombie before you could move onto anything else, hikari.

**Zombie: **Grrrraaaaash

**Masaka and Yami Masaka: **AHHH! Where did you come from?!!

**Jason: growling half-transformed into his shaggy dog self **Back off cadaver-boy! You can take the dark girl, I don't care, but if you even snuff at my mistress in the wrong way I'm going to enjoy chewing on your spine!

**Yami Masaka:** HEY! You jerk, what do you mean 'you can take the dark girl?'

**Zombie:** Graaaaaaaasssh! **Leaps on Masaka and nuzzles the poor author like a love-struck puppy**

**Masaka:** Waaah! Dead guy touching me! Dead guy touching me!!!

**Yami Masaka and Jason:** Hey pal, back off! Masaka is OURS!!!

**Yugi: Passed out from fear**

**Nizuki: Walks into author space and slings the unconscious hikari over her back** Come on little light, we'll go hang out with Tie-dyed Trickster until that yucky zombie is out of the author's notes. To all you readers out there, read and review, thanks!


	30. Bad Memories, No Memories, Premonitions

**Masaka: Bundled in a very large towel** I had to shower for something like SIX hours to get all the zombie stink off of me

**Jason: Invading the author's personal space once again** Now you just smell like yummy jasmine lotion!

**Yami Masaka: Sulking in corner that Jason took her spot** What did you do with that zombie anyway?

**Masaka:** I gave it to Bakura, apparently he's really good with those things

-**ELSEWHERE-**

**Bakura:** **Holding a doggie biscuit above the kneeling zombie's head** Okay now roll over zombie! Roll over!

**Zombie: Tongue lolled out in joy** Grrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaashhhhh!** Rolls over**

**Bakura: **Goood zombie! Okay, now play dead

**Zombie: …**

**Bakura: **Oh…right…sorry **Tosses the dead man the biscuit**

**-BACK TO AUTHOR SPACE-**

**Masaka:** Anyway, I'd like to thank all my reviewers for their patience. I swear I'm trying to churn out the story but sometimes it just gets a little hard. After it's all over I'm probably going to take out the whole story and revamp everything and connect all the little things I've neglected up until now, but until then you'll have to deal with a sloppy first draft **shifts under her towel**

**Jason:** Oh! Hey I nearly saw your boobie!

**Masaka:** **Groans in annoyance** Does anyone know a good dog-trainer?

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Yugi was still looking a little too pale after everyone was escorted out of the ride -while Yami hung back and played ghost-buster on the undead student- and was thereby given a blanket and a hot mug of cocoa.

The attendants of the nearby rides –called in for help- cooed and coddled the teen superstar and despite still feeling wretched, Yugi couldn't help but smile a little.

He thought it was so cute that the girls got all fussy over him and brushed back his hair like fidgety new mothers and showered him with affection. It probably should have bothered him that the girls were treating him like a little kid, but really, what sort of idiot would he have to be to shun a girl dressed in a Dark Magician Girl suit?

By the time Yami reached him –soaking wet and cussing up a storm about Seto's incompetence and annoying habit of attracting magic- Yugi was completely ready to face him.

"You look like a cat that got dumped in somebody's bath-tub," Yugi giggled at his other-half.

Yami just gave Yugi an annoyed pout and wrapped himself in his own emergency blanket.

"If that's the kind of thanks I get for saving you, I think I might just forget destiny and leave you on your own the next time an accident occurs," Yami pouted, turning his nose up in mock-anger.

While the idea of Yami leaving him, even in jest, caused Yugi's heart to flutter in panic, the boy still laughed and snuggled up against the dark one.

"You wouldn't do that! You're far too noble," Yugi said as he went about straightening Yami's water-frazzled spikes.

Yami's pout immediately slid off and he laughed in agreement.

The two sat together like that for a moment, watching Kaiba's employees darting around trying to calm everyone –one particular girl would not be calmed and was causing all sorts of hell- and allowing themselves to drip-dry.

"Are you ready to tell me what happened back in the tunnel?" Yami finally spoke up, causing Yugi to pull his hand back.

'Awwh! He didn't have to stop!' Yami thought briefly before turning his attention back to Yugi.

"I…It's just…w-well it's a little…l-little hard to talk about is all," Yugi coughed awkwardly.

"You know you can tell me anything," Yami said reaching out and taking Yugi's hand in his own. It startled him just how electrical it felt to hold his hikari's hand.

"I know that Yami, of course I do!" Yugi said looking back at his other almost imploringly. His eyes then drifted back to his lap. "It's just…it's just the reason…t-the reason I hate…hate things like zombies is…well it's a lot more…engrained than the reasons Joey has for hating them…I mean…it's kind of a trauma story so…I-I just…I've never felt comfortable enough to…"

Yugi's voice was trailing off more and more, getting so quiet that Yami almost couldn't hear him. So, being the worried yami that he is, he offered Yugi a reprieve.

"How about we get some lunch and talk about this matter then?" Yami asked, squeezing the hand that he still hadn't let go.

(A/N: Hmm…a hand hold for more than five minutes…that more like a hand-snuggle isn't it? OOOH! Yami and Yugi cuddling YAY!)

Yugi's stomach grumbled in approval of that idea and both boys laughed.

"Okay! Lunch sounds good! Just don't go overly dramatic like you did at breakfast," Yugi smiled.

Yami felt a stab at his pride but didn't let it bug him. Today WAS supposed to be all about getting Yugi back on the right side of things, but that could wait until after this conversation was over.

Besides Yami didn't think he could flirt very well when he felt like his pants were made of sand-paper. Leather and water didn't mix well AT ALL.

"I promise," Yami said. He squeezed Yugi's hand again –one for the road and all- and stood up. "How about we get out of here and go to Burger World?"

"That sounds wonderful," Yugi said licking his chops.

The two boys returned their blankets to the nearest attendant –a molting Harpie Lady- and hurried out of the park.

Yami was so relieved he was finally getting somewhere with Yugi that he didn't even remember to inform his partners in crime.

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Otogi had figured Yami would forget about the plan. The ex-pharaoh may not have realized it himself but he had a big weakness when it came to dealing with his hikari in real world situations. He was always rushing things and overreacting. Almost like a self-conscious love-struck little girl.

So when the dice-throwing duelist spotted the two tri-colored haired boys leaving the park, Otogi just sighed and picked up a small plastic bag holding his disguise.

It wouldn't be as effective as a shadow-spell but it would keep Yugi from figuring out who he was and that was really all that mattered.

"This is why I hate getting involved with this sort of thing," Otogi grumbled unhappily to himself. "Nobody sticks to the plan and we all end up doing our own thing, HOPING we all meet the same goals in the end, it's ridiculous."

Otogi exited the park and followed behind the two tri-colored haired boys all the way to Burger World. Once there he ducked into the restroom and –sadly a little like a girl- began to put on his disguise.

"Dump all my accessories in the bag for safe keeping," Otogi said taking off his trademark clown pendent and dice earring and dumping them into the plastic bag at his feet.

(A/N: I can't remember when I saw this, exactly, but Otogi really does have this little porcelain looking clown mask. Kind of a hint on the proper name of his store for the manga series: 'Dark Clown Game Shop'. Between the dub and the sub there are so many things that are taken out and added in; I don't follow everything I make stuff up!)

"Tuck my hair all under this stupid wig," Otogi continued, folding his long bangs and longer ponytail up under the burgundy wig he'd purchased. "Remove mascara, change jacket, put in brown-eye contact and…there perfect."

(A/N: Imagine Otogi dressed up sort of like Alister or maybe Jaden…both of which are disturbing but …)

Now prepared for his task Otogi stored his bag behind the restroom garbage can and exited the lavatory. Taking care to not be spotted by any of the annoying hostesses he crept over to an available booth and waited for the moment to pounce.

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Nizuki's gentle mental touch briefly swept across Ryou's mind while the boy ran back into the diner to grab a forgotten wallet. It was as nostalgic as a childhood toy and as loving as…well Ryou couldn't find anything to compare how loving the sensation was.

/Is something wrong, Nizuki?/ Ryou asked, making sure to do mask all his thoughts of Darrin and the date from his mind, as he often did to Bakura.

:/Yes…No…I mean…no…You are…you are doing fine then?/: Nizuki answered awkwardly.

/Well yes, actually, I'm quite happy at the moment…Why? Is something the matter?/ Ryou asked, his mental voice tinged with worry.

:/No, never mind, I was just worried because Yugi…No, no I don't sense anything bad around you. I just wanted to make sure and…no, you seem fine, surrounded by a chaotic mess of gray but fine. You're not at your house, are you?/:

/Um…no, you see I-/

:/Don't lie, Ryou/:

/I wasn't going to! I am just…just …out…with a good friend…that's all/ Ryou said. He felt a stab in his heart that was probably something like guilt but he let the feeling stick.

Darrin…Darrin was really important to him but if Nizuki found out about…this…whatever it was…she might get angry. And if Ryou had to choose between her and Darrin…ugh, just the thought hurt.

:/…If that is what you wish to tell me, that's fine/: Nizuki said in a strangely distant and almost ethereal voice that made Ryou suspect she knew where he was and what he was doing anyway.

/That's…that's all I'm doing/ Ryou responded, allowing another knot to ball up in his chest.

:/Well all right then, have fun, be safe and I'll see you back at home/: Nizuki's once again warm voice chuckled over the link before gently cutting off.

Ryou shook his head to bring himself back to the present. He had the wallet in his hand and was at the top of the steps outside the café. Obviously his body had been able to function without his whole mind in it, an act that never seized to freak him out.

A street-length away Ryou could still make out his date, casually swaying in place, not so much that he looked like a child, but just enough to show he was impatient to leave.

Just Zubarro's…no Darrin…just _Darrin'_s shape against the backdrop of the street was enough to make Ryou's heart flutter. His fingers reached up to his lips and he indulged in the memory of the kiss.

Ryou had never been kissed quite like that. Not that Ryou had been kissed much anyway but…but that kiss…it was…hot…hotter than an inferno and softer than the silkiest satin, a sensation that didn't just hit his lips but his tongue, his cheeks, his throat penetrating down into his core, a sinful sensation more addicting than any manufactured substance humanity had yet harnessed.

It was almost terrifying how good a kiss that had been.

(A/N: I'm hearing fans scream 'NOOOOO!' even from my author's notes. DON'T FREAK PEOPLE!! Ryou and Bakura just have a little separate growing up to do before they get together! DO! NOT! FREAK! Honestly, they will get together long before Yami and Yugi do the way I have things planned thus far)

Somehow Darrin must have picked up that strand of thought because the man turned his head and caught Ryou's eyes, from that loooooooong street-length away.

"…Perfect," Ryou sighed. Which probably should have startled him some. Ryou was a pessimist at heart. He never thought anything was perfect.

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(A/N: And now for a laugh!)

Yami went up to the counter to place the orders, leaving Yugi more or less alone at their table. Okay, so there were people packed in the surrounding tables –marginally less than you'd expect to see in a Japanese restaurant mid-day Saturday- but even they seemed to be off in their own little worlds, far, far away from the grease-stained heart-attack pit their bodies inhabited.

Yugi was mentally running over what he was going to say to Yami when the other got back when he suddenly felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder.

"Hey there, cutie. You all alone?" a voice tainted with a strong feminine lisp said from generally the same direction as his captive shoulder.

Yugi really didn't want to look up. If he looked up that meant he would have to make eye contact with this stranger. And if he made eye contact that meant, by the informal rules of human social behavior, he pretty much HAD to make conversation.

The voice cleared loudly, masculine loud, and the hand squeezed his shoulder a little bit.

"Are you being shy sweetie? Don't worry I don't bite…well not on the first date anyway."

Somewhere in Yugi's mind, a little detonator was set. It sat amongst the other emotions and sensations that Yugi was presently feeling, not really making much of an impact on anything, but it was definitely there, and the counter was starting.

"I swear I've seen you somewhere before. Tell me, have you ever been in Girl's Choice Magazine?" the voice continued.

10!

"No, no that can't be it. Models in those pages never look so cute in real life, and you are WAY too darling."

9!

"Maybe I've seen you at one of the nearby middle-schools! You are in middle-school right? You simply CAN'T be in primary, even though you did seem to have that DELICIOUS sweetness boys that age have."

8-7-6-5!

"Ohhh that sounded bad didn't it! I don't mean I like hitting on little boys or anything. Heavens no, I need someone who can offer me something REAL!"

4!

"Listen, I know this is really forward for someone you just met but-"

3!

"-how would you like to come and have lunch with me?"

2!

"I'd show you the best time, nothing skeevy I promise. I'm with some friends of my own actually and I'm sure they'd love you as well."

1!

The hand on his shoulder slid to mid-back and the detonator in Yugi's mind went off.

One moment Yugi was completely himself, a little annoyed but completely rational minded. Then that bomb went off and suddenly everything in his mind, except the hard to intercept Freudian animalistic instincts, was blasted away leaving Yugi empty. Well…empty of everything except the animalistic sensation of threat. Which was a bad sensation for everyone. Particularly the creep.

Now Yugi was nowhere as good a fighter as Nizuki, but he had been a friend with Joey and Honda for a good two years or so. Yugi had picked up more tricks from his degenerate friends than any responsible adult would be comfortable hearing about. So when Yugi's instincts roared at him to 'get rid of this threat to his person by whatever means possible' Yugi was actually able to do something.

He reached over his shoulder, grabbed the man's –or woman's, Yugi wasn't quite sure at the present moment- arm, hauled it against his back and then with a little force and a helluva expert twist of the body, Yugi sent the man sprawling over his shoulder flat to his back onto the floor in front of him.

In the still mostly white-out zone of Yugi's mind some little voice commented that it was a good thing Yugi had been waiting at one of the bar-tables, otherwise the punk would have probably been flipped over and landed on a table.

Now that his attacker was incapacitated –or at least stunned and cowed- Yugi allowed himself to make that dreaded eye contact.

What he saw surprised him. The guy wasn't some creepy thirty-year-old business guy looking for a little lunchtime fun as Yugi had so dreaded, but rather a teenager his own age, or perhaps a year or two older.

"You…oh! Sorry! I thought you…WOW! You really don't look anything like you sound," Yugi laughed apologetically.

The teen on the ground just spent a few more seconds staring up at the ceiling.

"Yugi…what's going on over here?" Yami's voice suddenly called over the excited chattering of the surrounding tables.

As if Yami's voice was the cue the punk had been waiting for Yugi's 'attacker' leapt to his feet and took off for the exit at a ridiculous clip for anyone, let alone a guy supposedly eating with a group of friends.

"Weirdo," Yugi muttered under his breath, the decimation of his mind over with and his usual emotional level back to pre-explosion standards. He then turned to Yami and gave a sunny smile. "It's nothing, Yami. Some freak was trying to pick me up was all; his hands were starting to act a little suspicious though so I had to cut our chat short. Some people just can't read body language very well, I guess. So you got our lunch?"

Yami nodded mutely, staring after the punk just like everybody else in the restaurant. Yugi flushed but at the same time he felt proud. He could almost hear the applause in the back of his mind –maybe it could have been Nizuki and Nero but somehow Yugi wasn't so sure-.

"I didn't hmm…I didn't know you were that capable a fighter, Yugi," Yami said blandly.

"Oh! Um well…you know see a little fighting here and there and you …pick it up…or something…Ah! Anyway, what do you say to getting out of here and eating our lunch somewhere else?" Yugi said, turning redder and redder by the second.

Yami didn't help matters any in the department by flicking Yugi teasingly on the forehead and commenting //My little Bruce Lee// over their mind link.

So, despite the fact that several occupants of the restaurant offering the two free lunch in return for just another 'little' demonstration of those awesome moves, Yami and Yugi left Burger World and traversed over to the more or less safer backdrop of Domino Park.

Yugi's feet started taking him back towards his beloved haunt of the Domino Zoo before he knew it and –so as not to tempt fate and meet with Dorgain or any wild-eyed lions- Yugi abruptly turned off the path and plopped down underneath the nearest tree.

It was a maple, and in the chilly autumn weather it was really showing its stuff, dazzling the slowly darkening world with a vibrant array of ruby, orange and gold.

"That really was impressive," Yami commented again while Yugi dove right into his cheeseburger. "Almost frighteningly so…when did you pick up fighting moves?"

"Well," Yugi said around a mouthful of tasty beef, "I started studying Joey and Honda's moves a lot more analytically right after we got home from Duelist Kingdom but…well…I suppose I only ever started testing out what I saw…when …well when the gang started to drift apart."

The way Yugi said that didn't sit well with the ex-pharaoh. Even without their mind-link he would have been able to notice the buried emotion in that statement.

"What do you mean?" Yami asked.

Yugi didn't look at his other for a long while, concentrating on each bite of food going into his mouth. Unfortunately because of this oral fixation he snarfed down his burger in record time, and therefore lost his method of avoiding conversation.

"I…well…I mean … …It didn't surprise you too much when I started dating Nero did it?" Yugi asked.

"W-what?" Yami asked, completely thrown by the statement.

"I mean…well I've always looked too…too FEMMY…I mean, I don't have a problem with it, my face is my face and as long as it does its job and holds my eyes in their sockets that's usually good enough for me but…well… others don't share my way of thinking and…well…unfortunately even as I've grown BIGGER I seem to have also grown…well…I hate to say it like this but…I guess I've sort of grown-

"Prettier," the two boys said at once. Yugi looked at Yami in surprise then flushed and nodded in embarrassment.

"Yah, and well…pretty guys tend to attract fists. I've had to throw off some pretty ugly lugs on my own while everybody was busy doing their own thing…and then with the club getting it's routine visits by Sho-" Yugi broke off.

"What were you saying Yugi?" Yami asked, leaning in eagerly. He had Yugi right where he'd been trying to get him all afternoon!

"Uh! I promised to tell you about the zombie thing first, right? This whole conversation is a bit of a random tangent," Yugi laughed forcibly, voluntarily diving from one painful subject right into an even more painful one.

Yami groaned in annoyance at the dodge but nodded in agreement. He wanted to hear both subjects, after all, and if he wanted to sponge as much information as he could out of Yugi, the ex-pharaoh couldn't attract any suspicion.

"Right, yah okay…zombies…well…where to start," Yugi coughed awkwardly, picking up his soda and absentmindedly nibbling on the straw.

"While we were in…Kaiba's ride of death," Yami said, sneering in anger for a moment, "you were have almost violent flashbacks to some…building with a coffin and …being afraid? What was that all about, hikari?"

Yugi took a deep breath and tried to speak. When no sound came from his lips he took another breath and tried again.

"…ad."

"What?" Yami blinked.

"…Dad…that memory…is about…my dad," Yugi breathed out shakily.

Something akin to an electric shock fizzled through Yami's every nerve making the dark's heart pump a little bit faster. This was the subject that he, Joey, Honda, Otogi, Tea, Ryou and even Kaiba would all give up their left leg- or in Kaiba's case somebody else's left leg- to know more about.

Joey had gotten the closest to the subject out of all of them. It had been during a sleep-over, he'd been complaining about how his mom was still giving him the cold-shoulder even though he was visiting every other week, and Yugi had sympathized, letting slip that his mother's attitude had suffered after his dad died, and that it was probably just defensive anger.

But that was all anyone had figured out. Yami had tried to look into Yugi's brain for any more information when they were still of one body, but surprisingly he was blocked from it. The memories were all locked in a toy-chest in the boy's soul-room, guarded by sentries that were a little too threatening to be considered 'teddy bears'.

Freakin' saber-toothed behemoths was more like it.

And why had they been carrying around poison-tipped pikes of all things?

"You see my…dad…he…he didn't die in a very peaceful way. Hell, he died in one of the more gruesome ways a person can die. And well…the funeral was a horrifying mess thanks to my mom…s-she just…for a long, long time after dad died she just…she was just in an awful state. I mean really awful. She loved my dad so much…she'd given my dad so much of herself that there was nothing left of herself-"

'The same way I'm afraid I'm giving too much of myself to YOU, Yami,' Yugi thought privately.

"What happened to him?" Yami asked softly, unconsciously moving to sit closer to his other.

"He…w-well that's just…I d-don't want to think about it," Yugi shuddered, his eyes once again going vacant. "He…I-I didn't really…know him that well…he was my dad and…H-He was a lot like Grandpa…m-maybe a little more responsible. He…daddy never went off on trips for month like Grandpa…and…a-and he never made mommy worry."

Yami reached out and wrapped his arm around Yugi's shoulder. He didn't like how Yugi was faring. The boy had reverted to calling his parents 'mommy' and 'daddy' for Ra's sake.

"He was…big…a mountain. And so…so strong…a big bear… Mommy…Mom didn't like how his career was going. She hated that he kept traversing all across the globe, putting himself in dangerous situations just for a little shred of the past. She…I remember hearing them talking in the kitchen…she was crying…saying 'Hidoshi, don't make me raise him alone. Don't do to me…what your father did to your poor mother. Don't make me a married single parent.' And daddy…daddy agreed …he said he'd stop going on trips…But it didn't help…it didn't help! I-if he hadn't been in the city then he wouldn't have…he wouldn't have…and it's my fault! It's my fault! If mom didn't have to worry about me, she could have GONE with dad…the-then they wouldn't…they wouldn't…"

"Yugi! Yugi! Aibou, please snap out of it," Yami gasped, grabbing Yugi's shoulders and swinging the boy around to face him.

Tears were pouring over his other-half's cheeks like heavy rainfall. And Yugi's whole body was trembling with sorrow.

"IF HE HADN'T BEEN AROUND WHEN THAT S-STUPID FIRE BROKE OUT HE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE!! I-IF HE HADN'T BEEN SO IDIOTIC HE WOULDN'T BE DEAD!! HE SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN IN THE APARTMENT BUILDING! HE SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE!!" Yugi screamed defensively. The boy then gave a groan and flopped forward burying his face in Yami's neck.

"When the firefighters got him out…it wasn't my dad…not anymore. But mom…s-she couldn't stand the thought of putting him in another fire! She COULDN'T cremate him…she just lost it…especially after the police told her that the fire had been intentionally lit…. There was some burglar working at the time…h-he'd set small fires in one apartment and when everybody ran out of their homes…he'd pick the other tenants clean…b-but this time…a-apparently the fire got out of control…and my dad got caught up in it trying to s-save all our neighbors…p-people he'd never even met! …M-mom refused to have the casket closed…s-she wanted people to see…to SEE what that bastard had done…t-that's how they ended up catching him…t-the man came to the wake…I-I don't…I don't remember anything like that but…mom t-told me about it…. A-all I remember is that face…t-that b-burned face! A-and wh-when the priest told me t-that he would rise again…I-I was s-sooo scared! B-because that shriveled husk WASN'T my daddy! That wasn't my big mountain bear dad!! A-and when th-that zombie came a-after us…I-I just …I-I just imagined t-that it was HIM! A-and it wa-was like…was like I was six-years-old a-all over again! AND I HATED IT! I-I never want to think about that time ever again! Not any of it! Nothing! I-I don't want to remember! Oh God Yami, I don't want toooooo!!"

"Shh, shh, settle down Yugi. Everything is alright. Don't cry, please don't cry! Your father is lying peacefully; he won't rise, not like that. Shh, shh…come on Yugi, you know he won't come back like that. Shhhh, we BOTH know that the body is a superficial thing. He doesn't need it anymore….shhh…you know that right now he's in the after-life, looking like you remember him. Your strong mountain of a father…shhh…. Please don't cry, Yugi," Yami soothed, running one hand through Yugi's hair and rubbing the boy's back with his other hand.

But unfortunately it wasn't as simple as that. Yugi had held these particular memories in for a very long time. He'd held them in for such a long time that he'd almost forgotten them himself. The shock of being attacked by that zombie was probably the only thing that COULD'VE gotten to him at this point.

So for what seemed to Yami to be an eternity –and really he would know what eternity feels like- Yugi wept in his arms, shuddering and shaking like the autumn leaves above them.

After about three hours, when the sun in the sky was very low, Yugi finally managed to calm himself down and wipe his eyes dry.

"W-well t-that w-was em-em-emb-barrassing. M' s-sorry 'Ami…I d-didn't mean to j-just go o-off like that," Yugi chuckled weakly, a small almost apologetic smile on his lips.

That smile on top of everything else that had happened to them the last few months sparked something inside Yami's very core. Something that he had felt for a brief moment just after he had gotten back from the afterlife, before he'd started going out with Tea.

Yami had never managed to give a proper name to that flame but it was dreadfully familiar; it was a shade off of protective and a shade off of friendship.

And for some reason that flame from within prompted Yami to tilt Yugi's head back and prompted him to brush all the tears off of Yugi's cheeks.

"Y-Yami?" Yugi stuttered, but for entirely different reason than before.

"Yugi," Yami simple said without tone. He was beyond rational thought now, beyond any reasoning, he was only a creature of emotion.

And right now his emotions were all focused on drawing the pain out of his little one…and bringing back the light to his gods-granted amethyst eyes…and blanketing his partner's gentle soul in a blanket of care…deep, deep, un-reproducible care.

The ex-pharaoh leaned his face closer to his other-half's drawing their faces closer and closer together.

Then Yugi turned his head away.

And that was all it took for Yami's higher mind to catch up to him.

//Oh my god! Tea!// Yami mentally gasped, feeling an overwhelming rush of guilt pouring over him.

Unfortunately, the link was wide-open for Yugi to feel and hear that as well.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Nizuki knew that she couldn't mess with her own protectorate right now. The little that she had picked up from his mind made her very aware that he wanted to be alone.

And judging from the impatient and worried look on Nero's face, the blonde-haired angel was guessing that Yugi was out of her zone of influence for a while as well.

So that left a whole world of other people to deal with. Which normally would suit any angel's tastes just fine…but Nizuki wasn't just any angel.

"I think we should go check out exactly where that corpse came from," Nizuki suggested to the little cherub after a long while of just staring at the cops surrounding the Tunnel of Horror.

After that walking dead man had been taken care of, the Domino City Police had rolled in to investigate. The whole park was cut up into different sections. The tourists who hadn't been anywhere near the ride were all being escorted out of the park –a new policy as it happened. After a certain Ferris-wheel incident the police had made it policy to escort all citizens out of the designated danger zone.

The tourists who HAD been on the ride were all having their statements taken down by fleets of rookie cops.

And then there were the poor mooks who'd been in the control-box for the ride as well as Seto himself were all being questioned, _privately, _by the chief of police.

Nizuki and Nero were invisible to mortal eyes so they had the leisure time to just sit around and watch the circus. It also made a perfect excuse to lose Honda.

"Won't that take us awfully close to the demonies that attacked Yugi-sama and Yami?" Nero blinked.

"Possibly, but I doubt it. Not even an amateur succubus would stick around the scene of a reanimation enchantment for more than an hour. Besides, I wouldn't mind getting a look at our pursuers. It would make getting a Heaven Warrant For Interspecies Engagement sooooo much easier," Nizuki said, her eyes flashing yellow with excitement.

She was a bit of a fight-junkie when it came down to things. She loved the physical interplay of two bodies dearly, and had often wished that she was allowed to employ 'Beat To Heal' tactics more often.

It was a habit she had developed sometime during the late 1800s…not that the date had much to do with the development…but Nizuki distinctly remember getting more hands on only after that century.

"Well if Nizuki-nee wants to go to graveyard, then Nero HAS to go with her. Remember I not good with spells and my wing is still sprained," Nero pouted, bringing out his wings to show Nizuki the latest patch-work Yugi has done on the appendage.

After the initial treatment Yugi had gone to the library to look up first-aide for birds. Since he'd read up on the subject, Yugi had fretted over the little one's wing a hundred ways to Sunday.

"Yes, yes I know that…though by now you SHOULD be healed," Nizuki frowned in annoyance. Her energy was crackling with excitement, despite her best efforts to suppress it. If there was a fight on the horizon Nizuki would not only be ready for it, she'd embrace the confrontation with open arms.

"Okay, let's go," Nero said taking Nizuki's hands in his own. The cherub's own energy soothed Nizuki's back down to normal levels and with a simple thought the two ethereals sped across the city…to an old out of the way Catholic graveyard.

"Hmm…holy ground?" Nizuki questioned as she opened her eyes and took in the elaborate mausoleums around her. The way a people buried their dead really gave away a lot.

"This ground is outside the original graveyard," Nero stated, walking past a single row of tombstones and stopping at an almost identical row beyond it.

Nizuki followed him out of curiosity and instantly realized he was right. Just walking those few feet she could feel the otherworld barrier falling away until she was completely past it.

"Unconsecrated grounds with plenty of newly interned corpses, this place was just ripe for the plucking wasn't it?" Nizuki grumbled, reached behind her and yanking the barrier out further. In mere seconds the entirety of the church was protected.

The next imp to try and eat a tribute to the dead off one of these tombstones would be in for a NASTY shock.

"The living too busy with own affairs to deal with their dead," Nero pouted sadly.

"It'd be an excusable oversight if it was because the living were too busy looking after each other and really using the gift they've been given…but I doubt that's the case," Nizuki sighed.

Sometimes it really hurt being a guardian angel, because that meant you were the first of the angels to witness the decline of the faith in mankind.

Most days this type of decline didn't bother her…but with Ryou blocking her and Yugi not needing her…today it hurt greatly.

She'd need to pray for a whole extra hour tonight to get her inner-light all leveled out.

"Well, aside from the busted open coffins and the disturbed ground our demons didn't give us much to go on," Nizuki said, bending down beside said open pit to look over the damage done. The ground look positively livid, insects scuttling about and red weeds blossoming from the soil like Nature's sneer.

Nizuki dripped a few sunlight drops over the abyss and the ground closed up and the pestilence faded away. Sure that would make returning the corpse a little harder, but it was better than traumatizing some poor cop or priest.

Nizuki moved to get up when suddenly her heel hit something solid. Whatever it was rolled away at the impact and nearly vanished into the tall grass around a headstone.

Nero bent down and picked it up while Nizuki finished fastening the cap on her sunlight bottle.

"What is it?" the elder asked.

"It looks like…a bottle of nightmares," Nero blinked. Nizuki walked over to him and took the item from his grasp.

"No, Nero this isn't nightmare. It's a potion bottle. I can recognize the design. Unlike us, demons usually have to blend their source of power with other materials to make it work to their desires. This is one of the nastier potions a succubus can stir up…eek! Luckily there are only one or two drops left inside."

With a simple flex of the wrist Nizuki crushed the odd black-red bottle in her hand, destroying it so completely that not even a sliver of glass hit the ground.

"Is our case looking very grim then?" Nero asked in worry.

Nizuki continued to flex her wrist for a moment, letting her brain try and work out some kind of explanation for these particular happenings.

"Nero…I have a sudden bad feeling. We should get back to Ry's house right now!"

"But what about Yugi-sama? He just finished spilling out his innards to Yami and-"

"First it's 'spill his guts' and second, Yugi has Yami to take care of him right now. As much as he's acted otherwise, Yami is really good at looking after Yugi. They will be fine until tomorrow…it's my charge that I'm worried about right now."

Nizuki grabbed Nero around the waist before the cherub had a chance to so much as think up a response for that statement and transported them in a twinkle back to the other side of the city…and unfortunately they did NOT arrive in the nick of time.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Bakura had been feeling weird all day. Not sick, exactly, the King of Thieves did not get sick. He just felt…out of the ordinary.

His shadows were pulsing with a lot more vigor and purpose today. They struck down anyone who so much as looked at their master wrong, most of the time even before Bakura had a chance to summon them.

And so, in an uncharacteristic show of concern for the populace of Domino, Bakura returned to his house.

But the change of locale didn't seem to help much. If anything it made him feel worse. The sight of the white walls that his hikari so meticulously kept free of dust and stain made Bakura's insides quake and the scent of his other-half's rarely used cologne sent paranoia raging through his mind.

"Where the hell is Ryou?" Bakura found himself snarling.

The white-haired fiend charged up the stairs and burst, without hesitation, into his other's room. There were several outfits lying moderately straight across the boy's bed and there were various accessories littered across the boy's dresser.

"Hmmm…what HAS my little host been up to?" Bakura snarled, suddenly and inexplicably enraged.

He didn't know why the idea of Ryou going out with someone made his so angry. Yes, Bakura had often thought his other-half was attractive –look who the kid took after for Ra's sake! If he was just a little darker, Bakura would swear that maybe Ryou had been a distant descendent of his- but that was about as far as Bakura's attraction had ever gone.

He'd always figured it was better, for both white-haired male's mental status, to keep a fair distance between them. If either he or Ryou tried to make a move on the other…then the entire balance of their household could get really messed up.

And Bakura wouldn't be the one to leave if things did go sour, you could put money on THAT fact.

Bakura was still trying to understand his suddenly peaked emotional state as well as his out of control magic when his sharp ears picked up the sound of keys entering a lock.

"Goodnight Darrin, I had a great night tonight," Ryou voice echoed through the house.

Without even realizing it, Bakura had crept down to the foot of the stairs. From this vantage point he could see his host, standing with his back to the house. And he could see a dark hand on his other's shoulder. A dark, male, strongly amorous hand.

"Hey, what's with the sudden rush to be away from me? Did I do something wrong? Is this because I kissed you at the café?"

'A kiss?' Bakura thought to himself. Strangely all his higher senses were being absorbed by black. He could barely manage to find the room to feel shocked. It was like his soul-room was shrinking.

"No…n-no of course not. I just…my …housemate will be here by now and…he's a bit of a grump," Ryou was saying.

His eyes were starting to go black now and his shadow powers were all but flooding out of his every chakra point- he was pretty sure that's where the shadows got out from. It was the preferred theory he'd developed of all the information he'd picked up from his numberless hosts- to boil with lethal attacking potential.

Even the dark voice inside his head was hushed.

Whatever it was that was about to happen, Bakura wouldn't be aware for it.

"Hmm well that makes me feel better about leaving. Is this guy stable, Ryou? He won't go into a fit if he sees you in that smokin' outfit will he? Because I have NO qualms about guarding your pretty body allllll night," the male voice chuckled very invitingly.

That was the last thing Bakura remembered.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Ryou was floating very high on cloud-nine where nothing in the world could bother him. His life was wonderful, beautiful and even a little bit magical.

He had a wonderful angel looking after his well-being, a beautiful new beau looking after his heart, and his long bemoaned physical limitations were becoming easier to deal with each day he took his self-defense lessons.

Yes, absolutely everything was at peace in Ryou's world…which made it the perfect time for something to happen.

Ryou had just barely finished saying good-night to his beau and had just finished closing and locking the front door when a very familiar weight grasped his shoulder tightly.

"**WeLl, WeLl, WHaT HaVe wE HeRe?" **a very dark and disturbingly familiar voice cackled behind him.

Ryou nervously turned his head to look over his shoulder and catch a glimpse of a familiar head of white horn hair.

"B-Bakura? Y-Your home early," Ryou stuttered nervously as his heart whirled in an almost painful beating rate.

"**YoU sHouLD kNoW BeTTeR tHan tO PrEsUMe aLL iS sAFe jUsT beCAUse tHe SUn iS uP," **Bakura chortled in that terrible tone of voice that was definitely going to give Ryou nightmares.

It wasn't a tone of voice that seemed very natural for Bakura either. When the ex-thief was darkly enraged his voice was very level and very, very cynical. He sounded that way because he knew that if he sounded like he knew all, his prey would assume he DID know all and become even more terrified.

Crazy tones of voice had never appealed to Bakura. That was one of the many reason he'd dislike Marik. Inflecting words with a high range of tones allowed for too many emotional interpretations. And a crazy person raised an instinctual type of fear in people, like a fear of wolves or bears. Bakura wanted to be feared as a man, not as a beast.

But as he looked on at the ex-King of Thieves, Ryou noticed there were more things unusual about Bakura's behavior than just his voice.

Bakura's eyes, which were normally a very unstable shade of brown which went from coal to russet depending on the man's mood, were now a blinding shade of crimson lined with inhuman bands of black. And Bakura's hair which usually draped down the man's back like a barbed crown of silken strands, now seemed more like a living thing, wavering around Bakura's head like a flame.

And Bakura's posture was all wrong too. The arrogant stance that Ryou had long associated with Bakura was no where to be found, instead the ex-thief was sort of bowed over, like he was about to lunge at someone and knock them to the floor.

Right in this moment Bakura the former King of Thieves and Shadows was gone and in his place was a dumb beast of anger and fear.

"**YoU'Ve gOttEN pReTTy CoCky FoR A sImpLE sERvaNT," **this other-Bakura growled.**"At FirST iT wAs jUSt tHaT stUPid giRl yOu InVITed tO stAY wITh uS. NoW iT's gOnE pASt tHat, NoW yOU'rE bRIngiNg** **sTRaNge mEN hOMe, wIThoUt a SinGLe WoRd to Me! JuST wHAt tHe HELL dO yOU tHINk yOU'rE uP tO?"**

"B-Bakura, y-your scaring me. You're not acting like yourself," Ryou shivered.

Bakura titled his head back so that his hair wasnow draped over one of his haunting crimson eyes and his mouth was catching the light, making his teeth gleam sinisterly.

"**Oh BuT RYou, tHIs iS mE. tHe rEAl mE. tHAt liTTle puSSy yOU'vE goTTen uSEd tO iS tHe frAUd."**

And then suddenly Ryou found himself on the floor, the whole left-side of his face burning as if it had been struck with a hot iron.

"B-BAKURA!" Ryou gasped, more in shock than fear, hot tears finding their way out of his eyes.

"**AhHHHHH! YEEEEsss! tHAt iS iT! tHAt's wHAt I'Ve bEEn missing; sUCh pReTTy liTTle scrEAMs yOu mAKe," **Bakura hissed, his whole body trembling in ecstasy.

/NIZUKI!! NIZUKI! HELP!/ Ryou screamed in his mind.

Bakura dropped to his haunches in front of Ryou and tauntingly shook a finger under the boy's nose.

"**tSk tSk, liTTle light, nO cALliNg fOR hELp nOW. yOU wOULd'Nt wANt yOUr liTTle giRL friENd geTTiNg hURt nOw, wOUlD yOu?" **

"Bakura, what is WRONG with you! What's going on! Why are you acting this way?" Ryou sobbed, overly his aching cheek face with his hand and scrambling slightly backwards.

Bakura grabbed Ryou's arm in an iron-grip and pulled the boy up to his eye-level. Then, disturbingly, Bakura laid a little kiss on Ryou's forehead and smiled, almost tranquilly.

"**i'M goINg tO kILL yOu nOw, liTTle oNe. GoOd-bYE."**

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKUUUUUUURAAAAAAA!!" Ryou screamed. His other-half paid the scream no mind and wrapped his hands around Ryou's throat, his thumbs pressing dangerously into the boy's windpipe.

Ryou tried to kick at him, but Bakura just moved to sit on his chest, further cutting off Ryou's air-supply.

"**NiGhTY, night," **Bakura giggled.

The world was staring to turn ever so slightly gray around the edges, and there were sparkles flashing over everything. Ryou had been battered around enough to know that this was a sign he was about to pass out.

As he bucked and scrambled trying to get even the slightest wisp of oxygen to his burning lungs Ryou couldn't help but wonder why this was all happening to him. As far as he knew Bakura hadn't been too unhappy with his new life. Sure he complained a lot and drank a lot and was never home, but Bakura had never once said that he regretted coming to this time. He had never once said that Ryou was too annoying to live with. Oh he'd said that Ryou was weak, girly, too motherly, a little bit bitchy, too nosy for his own good and things like that but he'd never EVER directly said that he hated Ryou or wanted him to die.

And as far as Bakura's rules of engagement went, if he hadn't said it like that, he'd never thought of it like that. Tactful the ex-thief wasn't.

So why this sudden nightmarish transformation? What had brought this about?

"…Kur…a…stop," Ryou chocked out.

Bakura just giggled insanely like he'd just heard a particularly amusing story and continued to squeeze.

'This is it then,' Ryou resigned, 'after all that work and training I'm just going to die here like this at my other-half's hands.'

But then, just as Ryou was ready to give up and die, a shadow appeared behind Bakura's back and struck the crazy spirit hard across the base of the skull.

Immediately Bakura's grip when slack and he sprawled out limp over Ryou's body.

Without the pressure on his throat Ryou immediately took in deep greedy breaths of air, trying to refill his lungs before his larynx started to swell shut from the recent abuse.

"D-Darrin…s-sen…sempai?" Ryou croaked desperately.

"Shit, Ry. You said your housemate was temperamental but I never imagined you meant this," the dark-haired male sighed in exasperation, running a single hand through his hair.

Ryou began to try and wiggle his way to freedom but Darrin beat him to it, grabbing the limp spirit by the shoulder and none to gentle tossing him off into a wall.

"H-he just went nuts! I-I don't know what happened. H-he said something about…m-me getting too…cocky…a-and he kissed my forehead…a-and he said he was going to KILL me! I-I've never seen him l-like this!" Ryou whimpered, gently fingering his throat, wondering where he was getting the strength to speak from.

"Bastard! Crazy psycho bastard! I knew when I saw him at that bar-"

"Wa-wait…you work at a bar?" Ryou interrupted.

Darrin gave a weak version of his usual half-cocky grin and nodded. "I'm a full-time part-timer. I do pretty much anything for anyone. I was working at this one back-alley bar about a month and a half ago and I see this lummox come charging in and I serve him this complimentary drink from an admiring girl down the way. Bastard sucks it down and starts babbling something about being a king of shadows or…darkness or something and how he has this cute little servant to take care of all his needs. And then he starts saying eh…some racier stuff which I'm not going to repeat, and goes and screams for the whole world to hear that he can do whatever the f-hell he wants because he's…god…or…something to that degree… then he staggers off with this white-haired chick at the bar and stumbles out the door. Shit, I never realized he was talking about YOU! How in Hell's fire have you put up with this?" Darrin asked.

"I just…have, I guess," Ryou shrugged, sounding a little more croaky now that the swelling had started to set in.

"Well I can't just leave you here with him! You need to be taken care of! I mean your only seven-freakin'-teen years old! Shit! Okay, come on, let's pack you a bag, you're going to stay with me from now on."

Strangely that offer made embarrassed butterflies start up somewhere in Ryou's gut.

"S-stay with you? L-like…at your apartment?"

"That's what I said," Darrin nodded with absolute confidence.

"B-But w-won't I get in your way?" Ryou gapped.

"Wha-? Ryou-sweetie, just exactly how much space do you think a quiet thing like you takes up? Come on, you'll be fine. Besides you said you were a great house-keeper and my dump could certainly use the help…So what do you say? Stay with me?"

Ryou looked over at his other-half agonizingly then looked back at Darrin. "B-But…"

"You should live your own life, Ry," Darrin frowned seriously.

Ryou blushed and nodded. He took the hand that Darrin held out to him. The sensation of flesh touching flesh sent bizarre yet not entirely unpleasant waves of heat through his body.

"Alright then…" Ryou said dropping Darrin's hand and trying to shake the feeling off, "but I'm going to leave a note."

"You do that and I'll go grab some things for you. I'm just going to grab the necessities for now because I'm not sure how long sleeping beauty there is going to be out and I want you far from him when he wakes up," Darrin said firmly before running up the stairs to Ryou's bedroom.

Ryou watched him go then turned his sights over to Bakura. His Bakura…his traitorous, darkness-filled, violent, drunkard Bakura.

"You jackass," Ryou coughed miserably holding his throat. For the first time since Bakura had returned to him, the sight of the Kul-Elna survivor brought nothing but misery to his heart.

The little candle of love that Ryou had kept burning for Bakura in his heart was nothing more than a smoldering puddle of wax.

….

….

As far as the hikaris and their angels were considered today was an all around rotten day.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND**

**Ryou: gapping in shock **My yami when psycho on me!!

**Yugi: whimpering and sobbing **Well my yami is causing me severe emotional and psychological stress with his floundering attitude and retarded actions!!

**Nero: nervous and pouting** I having to go to creepy graveyard

**Nizuki: infuriated and ablaze with vengeful justice **I DIDN'T SHOW UP IN TIME TO SAVE MY SWEET PROTECTORATE FROM THAT ASSHOLE!!

**All: turn to Masaka **WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING TO US!!!

**Masaka: very cocky proud author grin on her lips with a candy-cigarette stuck between her teeth, lounging proudly against a pile of pillows **Heh-heh-heh! That's for me to know and for you all to find out, my little duckies. Heh-heh-heh. Just a few more chapters and I can FINALLY get to the confrontation scene I've been wanting to do for about a year and a half now. Heh-heh-heh, this is going to be good.

**Bakura: walking in with the zombie on a leash completely unaware of the current circumstances **Yo, Masaka-ichi, I've trained this zombie guy good and proper but now I have no idea what to do with him. I mean, you wouldn't let me go and use him to scare the piss out of Joey would you?

**Masaka: suddenly nervous** Uhhh Bakura, I don't think it's a good idea for you to be here right now

**Bakura: completely casual but slightly confused** Why no- **gets tackles by a battle-aura glowing Nizuki** AHHHHHH!!!

**Masaka: now guilty and sheepish looking **Err, that's why

**Yami Masaka: **Actual thoughtful critic makes the plot better! Review and we'll probably use your suggestions when we get around to the revision!! PLLLLLEEEEEAAAAASEEEE REVIEW!!

**Ryou: sobbing on the ground** I got my butt kicked! WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!

**Yugi:** Phissh, yah, join the club


	31. Some Kind Of Day After Pill

**Masaka: **Wow! Bakura love in abundant in the hearts of all you reviewers! I'm pretty sure I DID ware you all enough though. This story has the hot and cold comedy of a series like Fruits Baskets and HELLO it has demons in it! What did you think the demons were going to do?

**Bakura: Hog-tied to the ceiling fan with a glowing rope that could only have come from Nizuki **Um, can I get down now?

**Yami Masaka: Lounging luxuriously on a mound of piles wrapped up in a fluffy comforter **YAWWWN, honestly it would probably be safer for you to stay up there for the time being

**Jason: Half-conscious from resting on Masaka's lap **Really, you have to let everyone cool off before you can regain your freedom, even I know that

**Bakura: **Damn it! Then get on with the story so I CAN regain people's trust!!!!

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Yami ended up making himself sick over his 'guilt'. He actually up and ran from Yugi's side to go throw-up in the park's men's room.

A normal person would have probably gotten upset at being so abandoned but Yugi wasn't.

Upset, that is. Though one could argue the he wasn't normal either.

For Yugi this particular development was almost too predictable. If something was going smoothly in his life, Yugi knew it was only a matter of time before fate charged in to rough it up a little.

Sure, it was a little bit humiliating to have to walk home with tear-tracks down his face, in water-wrinkled clothing, and without his 'date' but Yugi had dealt with worse.

Besides, Yugi didn't want to develop a relationship with Yami like this. An illicit relationship in which he, innocent Yugi Motu, would be cast in the surprising role of the 'couple-destroying seducer whose emotional outburst and well executed kiss would entice Yami away from his girlfriend' really didn't appeal to him.

If Yugi had kissed Yami and allowed things to develop from their, the relationship that would have formed would have been a shallow sympathy-born affair that would last no more than a year at most. That was why Yugi had turned away when his Yami had leaned in to kiss him.

That's why he'd turned away.

'Stupid other-me!' Yugi sulked to himself as he walked home, 'He is such a doofus! He can't handle his own emotions and always ends up making ME do all the work. Even when he was just a spirit I was always the one reining him in or luring him out! Challenge and defeat are the ONLY things he understands…and …making my sadness into an opponent…that was just cruel…'

The early October breeze seemed to claw at Yugi like a living thing. The breeze fluttered branches above and the setting sun cast everything in a veil of red.

Yugi stared up at the sky, trying to calm his breathing.

His mind was a veritable whirlwind of emotion. There was, of course, sadness and longing…but there was also jealousy…and anger, so much anger.

Anger at himself for being so sensitive, anger at his yami for his heart-mutilating idiocy, anger at Tea for keeping Yami to herself, anger at Joey for his fear and bias, anger at his father for leaving Yugi and his moth so violently, anger at Shogi for attacking his club and making what should have been an emotional release into yet another battle, and even anger at his dear grandpa for leaving Yugi alone so long to go on an archeological trip with Arthur Hawkins leaving Yugi responsible for the Kame Game Shop and all the housework on top of everything else he had to deal with.

Everything that was wrong in Yugi's life just came boiling up all at once.

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO HARD ON ME?" Yugi screamed at the Heavens. "WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS MUCH PAIN?"

Feeling slightly ridiculous, Yugi shook his head and charged off towards home. He was still a half a street-length away when there was a slight pop and Nero suddenly appeared on the stoop of the shop.

The cherub's appearance brought a slight smile to Yugi's lips, until he noticed the expression on Nero's face.

"Nero? Nero, what's wrong?" Yugi asked, jogging over to Nero's side.

"Oh! Yugi-sama!" Nero wailed, throwing himself into Yugi's chest, "Why I so stupid? Why can't I do anything right? Just when I start thinking I'm not such a failure! It's not fair! Why can't I be helpful and skillful like Nizuki-nee? If there a problem when SHE'S there, it not so bad! She can fix it! But me? I only know these stupid little tricks that-"

"Nero, Nero, Nero!" Yugi gasped, clutching Nero's quivering shoulders and forcing the cherub to face him. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"S-Stupid Bakura," was Nero's only reply.

A feeling like swallowing an iron pellet hit Yugi's gut. And the anger he felt for everything latched onto it and sunk deeper inside of him, probably to spring-load itself to cause trouble later. Right now Yugi didn't care.

"Hey, don't cry. We'll go inside and you can tell me all about it. Now just settle down, okay?" Yugi said gently stroking Nero's back.

Nero timidly nodded and released Yugi so the teen could unlock the Game Shop door.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

While Nero told Yugi all about how Nizuki had come bursting into the Bakura household as a glorious beacon of flame, only to find the dark events she had sensed had already come to pass, and about how she immediately sent Nero over to Yugi to both keep an eye on the other light and to get him over to the mirror monitors set up in the Motu house so that Nero could scan for Ryou, Bakura was regaining consciousness.

When Bakura finally came back to his senses the first thing he saw was Nizuki, standing above him, holding a shortened version of 'Excalibur' in her hand.

"Holy shi-" Bakura started to squirm. He didn't get any further into that curse because, in a heartbeat, Nizuki dove upon him, plunging that little light sword of hers through the collar of his shirt and into the floor-boards.

"Welcome back, my little pin-cushion. Glad to have you back in the world of the waking. We have soooo much to discuss, you and I!" Nizuki grinned pleasantly, radiating a cheery demeanor that wouldn't be out of place on a television housewife.

And yet, for some reason, the ivory gleam of the girl's teeth reminded Bakura of gleaming spears more than Mrs. Beaver.

"A-ah, what exactly are we going to discuss then…eh dearest cousin of my light?" Bakura grinned nervously, feeling unusually vulnerable without a single wisp of shadow at his disposal.

Of course, after that huge binge of shadow power he'd had before he'd passed out being without shadows really gave him a reassuringly firm sense of reality that he was rather glad to have back.

…What HAD caused Bakura's powers to surge like they had anyway? And why was the sensation of full shadow engulfment brining up this weird sense of nostalgic shame for the ex-thief?

"We are going to discuss," Nizuki stated plainly as she straightened out the collar of his shirt, "exactly what in the sweet name of heavenly mercy you were thinking of when you were trying to choke Ry-Ry to death."

"When I was WHAT?" Bakura gapped in shock.

"Judging from the memories I picked up from this room, you nearly crushed Ryou's voice-box. And you certainly gave him a concussion when you slapped his head with your fist. Luckily, Ry-chan's sempai from his dojo came barging in and he knocked you out flat," Nizuki continued as if she hadn't heard him.

She'd moved on from fixing his shirt to straightening Bakura's hair. It was eerily more threatening than if she'd been tracing the outline of his face with a knife.

"That's where he is right now, Ry-chan I mean, with his sempai. And according to the letter he left you upstairs, he is not coming back…until you have been dealt with…I'm presuming he meant that you'd been dealt with by me…how exactly do you think Ry-chan meant that? 'Deal with you', such an ambiguous phrase."

"I-I didn't know I-I was…I-I wasn't thinking w-when I…" Bakura wheezed in panic. For some reason the white-haired former tomb-robber was afraid of the blonde perched on his stomach like he'd feared no man, woman or monster every before.

He didn't doubt for a second that this not-real-cousin of Ryou's could cause him lasting damage without exerting herself in the slightest.

Could a person survive being cut open from neck to scrotum?

"You didn't know what you were doing, eh?" Nizuki chuckled as if Bakura had just made some witty remark at a business luncheon they were both attending, "You certainly have ME fooled."

She'd moved on from his hair to simply drumming her fingers across his cheekbone.

Was she planning on carving his face up with her disturbingly sharp brilliantly red fingernails? Well, Bakura had experience with that sort of abuse; so long as she didn't gouge out his eyes it wouldn't be that bad.

"In fact," Nizuki said, pulling Bakura out from his dismal mental preparations, "from what I saw, I'd say…you looked like you knew EXACTLY what you were doing."

"H-hey look! I-It's not like that! I-I have a-a condition, yah, a mental condition! S-sometimes I just k-kinda have black-outs w-where I have no idea what I'm doing and uh it's…it's really an untreatable condition and the doctors won't even give me meds for the symptoms and-"

Nizuki's elbow came plummeting down like an anvil, landing right in the middle of Bakura's unguarded gut.

Without any regards to his dignity, Bakura rolled over to his side and barfed. Disturbingly his vomit was all black, and if Bakura was seeing things straight –which he doubted considering recent head trauma- it was wriggling…like it was alive.

"Huh, I guess you weren't exactly lying," Nizuki said in a minutely less terrifying voice as she wrenched her blade out of Bakura's shirt and stuck it right through the center of the black mass Bakura had coughed up.

The puddle seemed to shriek then it began to smolder and it turned directly into ash.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Bakura screamed, unashamedly scuttling a good six feet away from the newly made char mark on the floor.

"Just what I was thinking," Nizuki growled, crossing her arms over her chest and turning to glower at Bakura anew. "What in the world could have driven you to drink succubus seed? What did you desire so much?"

"Succ…succubus…seed? What's that, some kind of weird plant?" Bakura shuddered.

"No, seed as in the impregnating stupid mortals with the offspring of evil kind of seed," Nizuki said in disgust.

Bakura yakked up again, luckily this time the vomit looked like vomit, all watery with mysterious chunks of carrots that Bakura hadn't eaten and a…earring? How drunk had Bakura had to have been to have swallowed an ear-….ooooh wait a minute, yah that hot married babe from two weeks ago! Now Bakura remembered, he'd been nibbling on her ear when accidentally –GULP- down she went.

"Better now?" Nizuki asked sarcastically.

Bakura blushed against his will and sat up straight.

"How the hell could I have drunk some dark-thing's spunk? I sleep around a lot but even I have a screening process."

"I'm not entirely sure I know…and actually I'm more surprised at how well you're taking this whole 'demons exist' issue," Nizuki frowned.

Strangely Bakura felt like he'd heard a similar statement from her once before except…no, it couldn't have been her.

Shaking off the feeling of déjà vu for the second time since he'd woken up, Bakura allowed himself a self-confident smirk and a knowing chuckle.

"You could say I've…been around long enough to learn a whole mess of interesting things. What's your excuse?"

"My job," Nizuki answered cryptically. Far more cryptically than Bakura in fact.

Damn, he was loosing his touch.

"So you weren't aware of ingesting the seed? Well, that explains why the fetus didn't develop," Nizuki said mostly to herself.

"Can you not say it like that," Bakura gagged.

"Hmmm…why would something bother giving you this if not for impregnation?" Nizuki thought aloud while her fingers gently rubbed her ear-cuff.

Bakura suppressed the impulse to retch again.

"Have you been to a bar lately, Bakura?" the strawberry-haired girl suddenly asked.

"Uh yah, I'm always at a bar," Bakura snorted.

"Don't you dare get cheeky with me, you pathetic watered-down manifestation of evil," Nizuki glared.

Bakura then noticed Nizuki jolt as if struck by a memory. At least, he wasn't the only one feeling like they'd had this particular conversation before. Bakura found that comforting.

"You," Nizuki started off vaguely. She shook her head and began again, "You drink anything unusual lately? A drink brought by a stranger that you found peculiar for example?"

'The weird ass spiky shadow-drink!' Bakura thought.

"Yah! Yah I got this WEIRD ASS drink one time called…Ab…Abe…Abaddon…"

"Abaddon's Fire Schnapps?" Nizuki asked.

"Yah! That's the one!" Bakura snapped his fingers.

"Abaddon is another word for Hell," Nizuki snorted.

"Ah oh uh…didn't know that," Bakura blinked.

Open mouth insert foot take three. Bakura was reeeeeeeally missing his ego-protecting shadows.

"Well then, I guess the issue has gone from how to kill you…to how to get Ryou's trust back, hasn't it? That and how to humanize you so that you never EVER do anything stupid like this EVER again." Nizuki went back to that spine-tingling purr of hers.

"Uh…oh! Ah! Yes that is the hmmm that is the issue isn't it," Bakura smiled passively.

Mentally he was vowing to himself to never EVER be without some form of defense EVER AGAIN.

The position he was in now was pitiful! He, the ancient plunderer, the claws of the Egyptian night, was getting bullied by a cutesy little blonde with a freaky sword! A single girl with a single sword! It was shameful.

Nizuki seemed to pick up on this thought because she smiled radiantly and said, "The first thing we are going to do is go through your room and get rid of all the nasties you've collected up there, like that completely unnecessary dagger collection you have. Sound good to you?'

Bakura's only reply was a faint gulp of terror.

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About the time Nizuki had just about emptied Bakura's room of all but the barest necessities –going so far as to burn all his drugs and clubbing clothing in what had to be the world's smelliest bonfire- and moved on to the second step of her rehabilitation plan for the rather pitiable ex-thief, Yugi had finally gotten things settled on his end.

He'd called Otogi to ask the dice-throwing duelist if he wouldn't mind picking Yami up from the park and letting the ex-spirit stay over at his apartment for a couple of days –Yugi figured Yami's mental state would be better served if Yugi was no where nearby-.

Otogi had sounded a little panicked at first (A/N: He's terrified that Yugi found him out and will clobber him again) but he agreed to help easily enough.

Yugi had then checked on Ryou via mirror-contact and reported to all concerned parties that the boy was safe and comfortable at Zubarro's place.

He'd then made hot-chocolate for Nero and snuggled the angel into an at least passably happy mood.

By the time everything was settled it was midnight and Yugi was exhausted to almost 'yami revival aftermath' levels.

Not even the hot shower and dryer-warmed pajamas he'd helped himself to did much good. And yet, as tired as he was, Yugi couldn't find it within himself to go to sleep.

Instead, Yugi pulled out the Motu's ragtag collection of photo albums and curled up in an armchair with the remaining cocoa.

"Some hero I've turned out to be," Yugi snorted in self-derision as he nostalgically traced the open-faces of his friends.

It hurt and infuriated him to think that the unity so obvious in these pictures was all but gone and that a great deal of the compassion they had shared had gone along with it.

Yugi grunted in annoyance and flipped to the very first pages of the album.

The photos were all grainy, with poor light or odd angles but they still held an almost magical quality.

That was probably because of how old and in the past the subject-matter of these pictures was.

Several color-less photos showed an older gentle-lady that Yugi knew was supposed to have been his grandmother.

She'd died before Yugi was born; back just after Yugi's father had been accepted into Tokyo University. It had been some stupid cause of death too, like a flu that had spiraled out of proportion.

She looked almost regal in all her photos and vaguely stoic as well. Yugi figured she had probably been a very self-reliant lady. If she had been married to Solomon she would have had to have been.

The next few pictures were of his dad as a younger man, most all of them had been candid pics, so Hidoshi Motu had somehow managed to hide his face before the shutter closed in almost each and every frame.

Then there were the pictures of his mother and father as an impossibly young and positively besotted couple.

These were the pictures that Yugi had always been especially fond of. Yugi liked to imagine them as happier people.

In fact, for a while after he'd just moved into his grandfather's house Yugi had made believe that his parents were still like the couple in those pictures, traveling the world together, wanting with all their hearts to bring Yugi along with them but knowing that he was too little.

That version of events made Yugi feel less abandoned and left a great opening for Solomon to start up his tradition of telling fantastic semi-true stories about his adventures and the adventures his father had gone on whenever Yugi was in need of entertainment. It had been a tradition that had lasted until Yugi had turned eleven-years-old…when the boy had finally given up the hope that his mother might some day come back from her 'soul-searching' trip to America.

"If my family has always been involved in this great destiny," Yugi found himself thinking, "then it must be some latent curse of the Puzzle that in three generations of Motus, none of us have had a happy love-life."

Somewhere in the exhausted depths of his mind, some rebellious little synapse fired up and the theme to the American movie 'Practical Magic' began to play.

Yugi bit his lower-lip to keep from laughing and breaking the much needed tranquility of the night.

"Okay, so maybe it isn't as bad in my family as that. At lease 2/3rds of the people involved haven't been killed by love."

Yugi's eyes wandered over the page to an old Christmas photo.

His father was dressed up as Santa and was handing Kaida, his mother, the box that contained his engagement ring. Naively Kaida was grinning up at her beau, obviously having just thought up at taunt to throw at him about the flimsy quality of his pillow-belly. But even in that state the love on her face was obvious. Her pale blue eyes just blazed with affection.

Yugi's fingers reached out to stroke the image.

"I miss you mom," Yugi sighed. "I wish you'd just come home already."

Sleep finally found its way into the hikari's mind and the boy fell unconscious, curled around the photos most painful to him, with a grimace planted on his sleeping lips.

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"Otogi was beaten black and blue, Joe was interrogated for corporate sabotage and desecrating graves, Yami whirled himself into a full-on panic attack and I smell like a deep-fat-fryer after a long day of broiling….Can I just say that compared to all our other plans, this one went off as well as the Hindenburg," Honda sighed warily.

Despite the late –or early depending on how you put it- hour, all the saboteurs had faithfully gathered at Otogi's apartment to report their mission results…and lick their wounds.

"I can not BELIEVE the cops held me for SIX HOURS! The fact that I was passed out from abject HORROR when they burst in SHOULD a told 'em somthin' but NOOOOOOO," Joey whined miserably.

"At least you will be able to walk comfortably tomorrow," Otogi moaned as he stretched and his back gave out a rather traumatic sounding 'crick', "I swear my whole back feels like one giant bruise."

"…Oh God! There is used gum in my hair!" Honda wailed.

"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!" Yami snarled.

For a guy in nothing but a pair of borrowed sweats and a blanket Yami still managed to strike an imposing figure.

"I get it that this whole day was a failure and my fault! I get the point!" Yami continued. "But that doesn't mean you all have to act like such little children about it! You only suffered a little interrogation, or a little smacking around or, and for THE GODS' SAKES this applies to you Honda, a little bit of rubbish! That isn't something so despicable that you can all bitch like this!"

"…You know, you really didn't cheat on Tea with Yugi," Honda had to prod since there was no real defense he could throw back, "I mean you never really even made lip cont-AAAAAAACK!"

The uni-spiked haired boy suddenly found himself blown backwards and into a shadow-locked closet.

"Sheeeesh!" Joey gapped at the place where his best friend had occupied not a minute ago.

"You don't have to act like such a bastard, _Atem. _We're just trying to help you," Otogi sneered in disapproval.

The ex-pharaoh only scowled and pulled the blanket closer about his neck.

"Yah I mean come on man, what's there ta get upset about anyway? So you figured out that ya had some feelin's for Yug' that ya didn't know ya had. So what? And so ya may finally be realizin' that yer a litte 'bent that way' it doesn't mean that we won't still l-IIIIIKE-"

Suddenly Joey joined Honda in the closet.

"You have anything else to add," Yami glowered at Otogi.

Wisely the black-haired teen didn't say anything and continued to sip his tea.

Yami glowered suspiciously at him for a moment longer then got to his feet and walked out onto Otogi's balcony.

His 'friends' just didn't understand, Yami thought to himself as he looked up at the stars. They didn't understand just how serious this whole affair was. It wasn't just that he'd 'nearly kissed Yugi'. If that was all then Yami's heart wouldn't feel so constricted with pain.

They didn't understand just how he'd felt when he'd realized what he'd almost done. They didn't know about the screaming voice he'd heard from deep within his mind, hissing in a sinister voice of how worthless and despicable Yami really was for so easily walling into temptation.

And it had been SO easy.

Yugi had always held a special place in his heart and, undoubtedly, he always would. Yugi understood him more precisely than anyone else could. Just look at the fact that he'd kept Yami from making such an ass out of himself at the park!

It would be too easy, far too easy to start a relationship with his other-half, to take those peachy lips for his own, to cover that soft skin with his marks…and thus destroy everything between them…and to betray what his very core was yelling at him.

"I can't…I-I …can't see him…I just can't see him again…not now…not until I get over this…crush," Yami told himself as he clutched at his painfully burning chest.

So consumed was he in his thoughts that he never noticed the cat scurrying away from a nearby telephone pole, cackling in an oddly human way for a cat.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND**

**Bakura: wailing away at the Heavens **M-My knives! That psycho woman took away my k-knives

**Nizuki: arms crossed definitely over her chest **I also burned away those poisons you were so happily addicted to! In one blow I've probably tacked on a good decade or so to your life-span!

**Bakura: ** And my good clothes! Why my clothes! I thought you like clothes like mine!

**Nizuki: pouting and sniffling **You made me do that! If you were more trustworthy I would have left you keep them! But I know you and right now you'd just use them as a tool to get sex and use sex like a drug!!

**Yami Masaka: Rolling her eyes eating holiday popcorn and listening to music **You are both seriously pathetic, you know that right?

**Bakura and Nizuki: **AND JUST WHOSE FAULT IS IT THAT WE'RE LIKE THIS?!

**Nero: **In case we don't get another chapter up before then MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY! Read and review to show your holiday spirit


	32. Love Grows, Understanding Flows

**Yami Masaka:** You know, one of our reviewers actually asked what Millennium Item I came from

**Masaka: -jolts in shock scattering pens and papers everywhere-** T-they did, d-did they **–guilt face-**

**Yami Masaka: -scratching the back of her head thoughtfully-** Yah, and I was thinking over the question myself and…I can't remember where I am supposed to have come from

**Masaka: **W-well the things is…yami I….you actually came from a really Mary-Sue beginning and just sort of…evolved into my other-self. Kinda like…Freud's Id and Ego…t-that's what you are

**Yami Masaka:** Yeeeeees, I know that's what I am NOW…but what was I?

**Masaka: -mumbles embarrassed-** Pharaoh's concubine who got trapped in a tester item

**Yami Masaka:** YEEEOWCH!

**Masaka:** I have a character named Masaka too, whose like your split-identity, but her name is Masika which is Egyptian and your name is Masaka, which is Japanese…so really there is no comparing you two anymore.

**Yami Masaka:** Oh right Masika I remember that one…**-jolts-** HEY WAIT! ISN'T SHE THAT CHARACTER THAT'S LIKE YAMI'S STEP-MOM!!

**Masaka:** I SAID YOU'RE NOT RELATED ANYMORE, OKAY!!!!

**Yami Masaka:** We had better not be!

**Masaka:** You aren't! I swear! I see you as like ultra-sexy confident me! Not another person!

**Yami Masaka:** Ultra-sexy confident you? **–tail swishing in pleasure-** Okay then, I believe you

**Masaka:** Good grief…okay let's start this chapter before another question pops up

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Bakura clenched his fists at his sides and tried to keep his teeth from grinding against each other. He was beyond anger and he knew if he tried to do anything other than BREATHE right now the punk in front of him would really get it and then, of course, he'd really get it once he got home.

It'd been about a week since Bakura had fallen under a demonic spell and tried to strangle his hikari to death and since that time there had been a number of substantial changes in the Bakura household.

The first big thing was that Ryou was no longer living in the house. He'd officially moved in with his martial arts sempai, Darrin Zubarro. And apparently the boy really did love it over at that apartment because aside from the time he was at school or at the dojo Ryou spent all his time there.

Nizuki had tried to go over to talk to him several times since that night, but if the strawberry-blonde's raising lack of patience was anything to go on, she wasn't having much success.

And continuing on with what was new with the blonde, it seemed that little Miss Not-Really-A-Bakura had more tricks up her sleeve than Bakura had first suspected. After all, it had only taken her about a day in a half to break Bakura's will and turn him into something that was either a surrogate-son or some kind of psychology project.

That annoying little brat Nero was over at the Bakura house more than the ex-thief was comfortable with these days, working himself into a frenzy almost hourly trying to keep Nizuki from going totally off the deep-end –which Bakura was privately grateful for because he didn't want to see _Nizuki Unleashed_ anymore than the kid did- .

And as for the former King of Thieves himself…well…he was currently going through Hell…well almost.

"Next time, you have to remember to offer the costumer a full car-wash! Not just the usual maintenance we offer! And I've told you to stress the supreme petrol not the regular! How the hell do you expect to get anywhere in the world if you don't put any effort into your work? Are you listening to me, Bakura-kohai? Hmmmm? Are you?" a smallish young man whined at Bakura.

"Yes…sir," Bakura hissed through his clenched teeth as a murderous spasm went through his arm.

Ohh, if he could just figure out how to keep Nizuki from ever finding out, he would gladly fillet his stupid manager and quit this stupid gas-station attendant job and run to the nearest bar.

Yes, that was right; Bakura was a gas-pumper, a windshield wiper, a damn working stiff! It was a disgrace! He had more power in his little finger than half the population of Japan in their collective bodies! He was a master strategist, a great conqueror, a brilliant manipulator! These stupid mortals should be giving him money as tribute to him, not forcing him to WORK for it!

At least, that was what HE thought. His keeper on the other-hand believed that an honest job was exactly what the white-haired fiend needed. That evil, tyrannical blonde had somehow managed to corral Bakura into this job and had locked the fence so tightly behind her that Bakura found himself somehow incapable of both quitting AND incapable of killing the supervisor who'd been boxed in with him.

"All right then. I understand that with all the other things going on around here it's easy to forget a service or too, and I understand this is your first job, but I expect to see better," Manager Tatsukichi nodded before turning on his heels and returning to the managerial office.

Bakura couldn't stop his one-finger farewell salute anymore than he could stop his need to breathe.

"Jack-ASS!" Bakura sniped. The fiend then crumpled warily against the nearest pump and groaned. "I don't know HOW this job could get any worse."

Of course someone as hated by the Powers-That-Be, such as himself, should never say such things because the world is ALWAYS ready with some fresh torture to attack its ungrateful.

"OOOOOH! YOOOHOOOO! RYOU IS THAT YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING WORKING AT A GAS-STATION, HUH?" an all too familiar chirpy voice called from behind him as several short honks bleated from a car-horn.

"No!" Bakura shuddered to himself, "No! It can't be! It CAN'T! I'm not THAT unlucky am I?"

Tentatively Bakura turned his head, ever so slightly to the side to glance over his shoulder. What he saw behind him caused a whole other type of anger/misery to well up inside him.

The pharaoh's concubine and a woman Bakura could only guess was her mother were sitting pretty at one of the pumps that was in Bakura's section to tend.

Apparently the girl had mistaken him for his light because she was leaning far outside the window waving her sticky arms through the arm trying to flag him down.

"YOO-HOO! RYOU, WE'RE OVER HERE!!" the brunette squealed.

'_You spill one drop of blood, mister, and I promise the only pleasure of the flesh YOU are allowed to enjoy will be eating tapioca pudding fed through a small straw that pokes through the small mouth-hole in your TOTAL BODY CAST!' _Nizuki's most recent threat rumbled through Bakura's ears.

'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! This is NOT happening to me! My life did NOT get this messed up!' Bakura tried to convince himself.

Another long blast of now recognizable car-horn blew that small but happy denial right out of Bakura's head. The ex-thief braced himself with a deep breath and a self-promise to smoke a pack right after work –the blonde master was allowing him THAT at least- then headed over to the electric blue compact car.

"Hello, how may I help you," Bakura said through a forced smile.

"Oh! It's you, Bakura! I thought it was Ryou! Hah! You two look so identical! Especially now that Ryou is working out!" Tea said with a clipped laugh.

"Ryou and I are very similar in looks, I guess," Bakura tried to shut down the topic, "now that the confusion is over would you-"

"Oh! Of course I don't mean to say that you look EXACTLY alike!" Tea continued, unaware of the death-glare aiming at her from under the shadow of Bakura's GIZCO uniform cap, "I mean there are OBVIOUSLY some differences! The first being that YOU don't look like a GIRL trapped in a BOY'S body! You must find that really disturbing, huh? Seeing your other-half looking so feminine and all I mean. No wonder we never see you hanging out with him! That and, of course, you've been busy doing your own thing. Last I heard you were in debt to some rather nasty people, how is that going?"

"Well I'm working here, aren't I? So I'd strain to suggest that I'm not doing all that well at all," Bakura growled.

"Oh! Yah! I guess, but at least it's not a McJob right? Burger World sucked big time. I'm so glad I quit. Oh yah, while I have you, do you think you could do your wicked thing and snag me some drinks? I convinced my mom to allow it because it's a special occasion! I passed my audition! Some champagne would be nice but-"

Bakura couldn't help it. He couldn't! Underneath it all he was really just an emotional-ignorant mess with a naturally large sense of pride. And Tea had been gabbing at every soft point Bakura didn't know he had, from stabbing at his previous idiocy with drugs and women (now that he was clean, Bakura didn't really miss the part lifestyle much except for the occasional nightmare or day-terror) to making fun of his other-half, down to mocking his life-time built skills through suggesting that he could easily be put to use snagging alcohol for underage celebrating! It was simply beyond Bakura's current mental state to deal with all of it!

Bakura's hand whizzed up from his side and snagged the seasonally inappropriate strings of Tea's spaghetti-strap tank-top and yanked them and the girl within them almost all the way out of the car.

If it hadn't been for the sharp stinging scent of blood coming from where Tea's hips grazed painfully over the window's edge, Bakura had no idea what he would have done …though he could make a few guesses.

"The consumption of alcohol by minors is an offense punishable by law, you know," Bakura covered his murderous move with a sharkish smile. "I could report you to my supervisor right now, but then I'd have to deal with a lot of paperwork and I really don't want to do that. So just ask your mother-dearest what kind of gas she wants and how she's gonna pay and sit your scrawny butt down in your seat…miss."

Tea nodded angrily and while Bakura helped her back into the vehicle…he could have sworn he could smell that all too familiar, still totally enticing, scent of shadow-magic.

'What the…did I use my magic to haul her out?' Bakura blinked in confusion. He dropped Gardener's arm as if it were on fire and excused himself.

Ignoring how the brunette was smirking at his back Bakura threw off his cap, yelled at his boss he was taking a break, and disappeared around the corner.

The last thing he needed right now, Bakura told himself, was to be tempted to tamper with shadow-magic.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Back in Bakura's living-room Nizuki was rubbing her ear-cuff and delicately holding her stomach, unaware of her semi-protectorate's turmoil.

She wasn't plotting anything at the moment, only trying to overcome some fatigue. If Bakura had been any other guy she could have harassed him into becoming a Buddhist priest rather than a gas-station attendant by now…but because Bakura was a shadow-power saturated M.I. case related spirit…Nizuki could only deal with him for so long without developing some serious health problems including molting, migraines and her favorite of all, black-outs.

Most other angels didn't have this particular problem with shadow-energy, even Nero seemed to be exempt from them…only Nizuki couldn't handle it, like a rare allergy a human might develop that could threaten their life.

But still, even with this handicap Nizuki thought she was doing well. Bakura hadn't had anymore violent fits lately anyway…though it hadn't escaped her notice that his darker attitude problems hadn't gone away.

Nizuki didn't really begrudge Bakura his issues though. The poor man had been through so much and now it seemed that he didn't know how to function without the drive of vengeance and world-domination to back him up. It was like darkness and discord were all the clueless spirit knew.

"Kul-Elna…and the demon puppet Zorc…that's a lot for any one person to suffer," Nizuki thought aloud to herself as she continued to fondle her ear-cuff. The strange déjà vu feeling that Nizuki experienced around Bakura kept getting stronger and stronger every day. It was as if there were memories of the spirit of the millennium ring stuck somewhere in her brain that couldn't get out. On top of her growing fatigue the feeling really took it out of her.

The fact that Ryou wasn't seeing her wasn't helping much either. A guardian angel got part of their strength from being in their protectorate's presence. Their hope and their faith gave angel that fire in their belly and the fluff in their wings.

"Hhhhhhnnnn!" Nizuki moaned rather immaturely sprawling across her chair with a boneless sort of grace, "This sucks! Why won't Ry-chan come home already! I've done so much ground-work and I KNOW I've got Bakura more or less under thumb! This whole situation just sucks, sucks, SUUUUCKS!"

Letting out another nerve-grating sigh the blonde angel closed her eyes and spread her awareness out through Domino. There was something out there in those streets that Nizuki just couldn't figure out. It was…it was familiar…and yet at the same time totally foreign. It was dark and yet at the same time almost welcoming.

And Nizuki just couldn't figure it out. There were too many missing pieces in her puzzle and she'd run out of resources to track them all down.

"It's like…I'm being kept in the dark for a reason," Nizuki pouted as she rolled over to her stomach and let her rather weather-ragged wings stretch out. "It's like He has purposefully led me into a position where an angel is of little to no use! Am I supposed to be a stupid shoulder-to-cry-on and nothing more?!"

That idea agitated Nizuki down to the very core of her not-so-angelic spirit. She HATED being told to stay on the sidelines. She was a guardian of action! And being both too exhausted and too confused to take action was making her very cranky.

"Please…Your Grace…whatever your plan is just…don't let me ruin it don't make me…don't make me …don't let Ryou be ruined…because of me," Nizuki pleaded to the heavens. A bitter tear rolled down her gently glowing cheek and the angel let herself drift off into a fitful sleep filled with dreams of unfulfilled missions and ruined protectorates.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Yugi wasn't really all that sad to leave Ryou/Zubarro's apartment. He was frustrated that he hadn't been able to get Ryou to come back down from planet _Illicit Sempai-Kohai Dojo Romance_ and he was a little perturbed at the fact that he had managed to see more PDA than his poor still-single heart could take.

So when Zubarro had asked if Yugi would mind cutting his visit short so he could 'show' Ryou some 'advanced stretches' Yugi had unresistingly dashed out of the door.

"Freakin' lucky bastard," Yugi pouted at the closed apartment door behind him while running a weary hand over his scalp.

As of yesterday this would be the sixth time he'd had to run for cover from the disgusting pheromone storm that was Zubarro and Ryou's relationship. And that storm looked none too ready to ebb away either.

Nero wouldn't go into Zubarro's apartment anymore (not that Yugi would have let him anyway what with the XXX-rating coupling brewing) and Nizuki herself had been exiled from the premises. Only Yugi managed to muster up the strength it took to face Ryou these days. And he only managed to hold out for about ten minutes.

And while Yugi was very happy for Ryou, he was also a little bit worried. He had noticed Nizuki's lack of luster and he'd noticed Bakura –from a fair distance away- looking lost and unnerved.

Even if it was the epitome of petty thinking to humor such ideas, Yugi really thought that Ryou was being a little prat and he needed to get his snowy white butt back home.

"Jerk practically has his other-half begging for him to just talk and Ryou won't give the man the time of day; some people just have all the luck," Yugi grumbled to himself as he walked down the stairs towards the exit.

He was somewhere between floor twelve and floor thirteen when he picked up a rather bizarre ditty wafting up through the air from somewhere below.

'_One little, two little –hic- three little Indians, f-four little, five little, six little Indians, seven little Indian squaws!'_

"What in the- Who in all of Japan sings American Cowboy ditties?" Yugi thought to himself, picking up his pace a little.

'_S-seven little –hic- eight little, nine little Indians, ten little, eleven little, twelve little I-Indians, t-thirteen little…little…uhhhn…pilgrims?'_

Almost as being tugged along by magnets Yugi followed that ire-raising little song to the third floor where he found, much to his great bewilderment and distress, Bakura himself, slumped against the fire-exit with a beer-bottle in his fist.

"Bakura? W-what are you? Ooooh! Nizuki is not going to like this!" Yugi gasped, slapping his forehead in shock.

"Huh? Oh! Heeeey! It's the pharaoh's brat! Hey! Pharaoh's brat! Y-you know where Ryou is, right? T-tell me where he is! I-I wanna see my Ryou!" Bakura said with surprising good spirits.

"Why me," Yugi sighed briefly before tiptoeing gently to the inebriated spirit's side and hauling the much larger man to his feet.

"R-Ryou didn't g-give me the apartment number, s-so I've just been knockin' on all these doors tr-tryin' to find him by press…pro...recess of exhilaration," Bakrua hiccupped.

"Recess of…you mean process of elimination?" Yugi blinked owlishly.

"THAT'S the one! Y-ya know, I once…I once had this host…Ca-Cabeza….Cabeza de Voca err sumthin' and he was reeeeeally bad at direction! I-I didn't HELP him any b-but it was still hilarious to watch him wander 'round! I-I kinda feel like him right now…cept there ain't any Indian to hitch a ride f-from…hey was I singing earlier? Cuz I got this stupid little song stuck in my head now that I can't get out it goes like: _one little_-"

"Yes! Yes! I heard you before, Bakura. I really did, but you know what, I don't think you're going to get to see Ryou today, so maybe I should take you back to-"

"No blondies! I-I ain't havin' no blondies…c-can't stand 'em…s-stupid little thing really…t-try too h-hard…and…and only make things…make things worse," Bakura said with as much intensity as his drunken state would allow.

"Okay," Yugi grunted, feeling his spine begin to ache under Bakura's weight, "no blondies. Uhhh, how about we go to a restaurant? I think you could you could use some coffee right now…huh?"

"Percolate that juice up right, Billie! We need it black and bitter as sin if we expect to sober up in time to catch that damn train!" Bakura wailed, clearly thinking back to yet another one of his hosts. "A-and furget that damn gold train! I'll bet that damn Shadi is on it and I ain't going back into that crypt! Not again! Not ever again!"

"Ugh…I'll pretend that made some sense," Yugi huffed, leading Bakura along down the stairs that was eerily reminiscent of how Ryou used to cart Bakura upstairs.

"Kill ALLLL the prisoners! No mercy! No mercy!" Bakura howled happily.

"Oh give me a break!" Yugi sighed.

It took them a while and Yugi got a few smacks that he was pretty sure he didn't deserve –one he did deserve though for trying to dump the spirit down the last flight of steps--but eventually Yugi got them both into a relatively empty dinner specializing in American cuisine.

The motif prompted Bakura to croon out an Elvis song or two –Yugi prayed to God that the King wasn't also one of Bakura's hosts-- and more or less led himself into the very back booth before collapse into a very unbecoming heap.

"This is my punishment for saying Ryou should hurry back home to you, isn't it?" Yugi frowned down at the spirit, as he rested his elbow on the tabletop.

Bakura only groaned in his sleep and made a miserable face that tugged at Yugi's overly playable heart-stings.

He ordered a BIG cup of black coffee for the spirit and an old-fashioned cherry cola for himself and by the time the drinks arrived Bakura was more or less conscious again.

"Owwww."

"You've got no right to complain. Frankly, you could have it a lot worse. Like if Nizuki got a hold of you," Yugi snorted.

Apparently Bakura was more shocked than pissed at that because the ex-fiend shot his head up and stared at Yugi as if he'd never seen a human-being like him before.

"W-what the hell are you doing here? What did I…what did we-?" Bakura croaked.

Yugi blanched at what the spirit's tone was implying and glared at him. "We happen to be at a dinner just a building away from Zubarro's complex! You got drunk and you were trying to visit Ryou! And for some reason I can't even begin to fathom, I decided to help you! Sheesh!"

"Huh…I guess that makes more sense," Bakura scratched the back of his head. He then spied the coffee mug and took a long, deep gulp of it.

Yugi was content to watch him for a second before his more adventurous side couldn't stand it anymore and broke out with a question: "Well, aren't you going to explain WHY you were so drunk?"

Bakura glowered at Yugi over the rim of the now half-empty mug and snarled.

"That's not an answer," Yugi said before his survivalist-side managed to catch his adventurous-side and shut it up.

"I don't believe I owe you an explanation, little light. What I do is my business and no one else's."

Yugi took a deep angry breath and clutched his soda glass tightly. Normally Yugi was the epitome of passive acceptance. Hell, Yugi put up with Kaiba's snubs for inhuman lengths of time. But even Yugi had a breaking-point and Bakura was just built to run over that point.

"I think it is my business, Ba-Ku-Ra," Yugi hissed angrily, "I think it's very, very much my business! I nearly broke my back getting you out of that apartment and-"

"I didn't ask for your help," Bakura snorted.

"NO! YOU DIDN'T! BUT YOU NEEDED IT AND THAT'S JUST ABOUT THE SAME!! IF YOU DON'T LIKE OWING PEOPLE ANYTHING THEN YOU SHOULDN'T PUT YOURSELF IN STUPID POSITIONS!" Yugi completely snapped.

Bakura sneered and opened his mouth to protest…and then pause and blinked and tried again…and stopped again in surprise.

"You…have a point, I suppose," Bakura said.

"THAT NOT THE- …W-wait, you think I have a point?" Yugi said in equal surprise.

"Anything that happens to me is my own damn fault for getting so fall-down drunk …after being on my own for a few thousand years you'd think I'd have that little life-fact down pat," Bakura snorted in self-disgust. The white-haired fiend then leaned back against the chair and locked eyes with Yugi. "Okay brat, you want to know why I was camped out in that apartment complex?"

"Yes, I really would," Yugi nodded solemnly.

"Well I…okay, I'm not sure why I came HERE after I got drunk, but the REASON I got drunk was because…I freaked myself out earlier," Bakura spat out through clenched teeth.

The white-haired male then stuffed his hands into his pockets and moved to leave the table.

"Wha- hey wait! That's not an explanation at all, get back here!" Yugi chastised.

"Or what?" Bakura snapped.

"Or…or…or I'll call Nizuki," Yugi stumbled. Satisfactorily Bakura's pale face went even whiter and he sat back down. Yugi felt a momentary thrill at the power he'd just exerted but he quickly suppressed it.

"So, okay. You were…at that job Nizuki got you and …something happened?" Yugi goaded.

"I felt a big shadow surge and…well I was pissed off and I didn't think my control was that bad and I just…I know alcohol keeps me from shadow-bingeing so I went to the nearest bar and drained a keg or two."

"You were afraid of shadow bingeing?" Yugi blinked, "But you've never seemed afraid of shadows. Not for as long as I've known you err…known about you…what changed your mind?"

"I don't know, okay? I just don't like it anymore. I pride myself on my mental control and shadows mess with my head!" Bakura retaliated, "Are you satisfied yet, can I go?"

"... It's Ryou isn't it?" Yugi whispered.

"Ryou?" Bakura arched an eyebrow suspiciously, "what does Ryou have to do with anything? What are you suggesting?"

"You're afraid of shadows now…because you're upset over what happened to Ryou…. And when you got drunk your desire to see him overcame all the mental barriers you have against being attached to anyone and you tried to visit him," Yugi laid out his theory.

"Keep dreaming, brat. Ryou is a fine twerp as far as people go, but I have no special connections to him, or anybody. I am completely independent and I don't need anyone," Bakura snorted.

"But I know that's not true. Ryou has always been important to you. He's the only reason you never went as bug-nuts as Yami Malik," Yugi frowned.

"I WAS NEVER ANYTHING LIKE YAMI MALIK! RYOU HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT!" Bakura screamed so outrageously that his voice actually rose to a squeak.

Yugi smiled like he'd just won a new un-tested arcade game and took a sip of his soda. Mental games were always more fun than the stationary store-bought variety. Bakura continued to scream and swear for a minute until he realized Yugi wasn't paying attention anyway and he slumped in defeat.

"It...it isn't just that I care for my host, okay," Bakura flushed in embarrassment, "I…I mean I've had a lot of hosts and I've cared for them all so it's not just…that…. Ryou is…family…and I can't have that. It's too dangerous. The world has always been out to kick my ass and I don't want Ryou caught up in that."

Yugi stared at Bakura in surprise for a long, long moment then he smiled and nodded his head.

"I guess I can understand. Though, I don't think that's really true."

"It is true. I've had my ass handed to me on more occasions than I truly like to remember! Your _pharaoh's _little crusade against me should be all I need to mention."

Yugi flushed in embarrassment for that. Ever since he'd witnessed his other-half's past-life he'd been dealing with a sort of empathetic guilt. Ancient wars of supremacy and conquer or not, nobody's entire village should be killed from underneath them. Nobody's.

"Okay, I've told you more than enough. I'm going now! And you better not tell Nizuki!" Bakura snapped.

"Your secret is safe with me," Yugi smiled.

"Pssh, ya right," Bakura humped as he clamored to his feet and headed for the exit.

Yugi nibbled his lower-lip thoughtfully for a moment then turned and yelled after Bakura the thought that was nearly capsizing his mind.

"I-I THINK-" Bakura turned around curiously, "I T-THINK IF YOU JUST TELL RYOU WHAT YOU TOLD ME…I THINK HE'LL COME BACK HOME WITH YOU."

Bakura smirked in a surprisingly friendly way and waved the boy off. Whether or not that meant Bakura believed him, Yugi wasn't sure…but he had a feeling…that Bakura was going to act a little nicer from now on.

A car screeched outside and a very Bakura sounding 'F—K YOU!' echoed through the air.

"Okay, he'll be nicer towards people he knows from now on, at least," Yugi amended his thoughts.

He then continued to drink his soda.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND**

**Masaka: **Okay! I didn't really want to write this chapter out, I kinda think it's a little too much a little too late, but it did need to be written!

**Yami Masaka:** As much as we all love Nizuki's kick-ass style, it doesn't do much for Bakura's character development. Nizuki blunted the edges of Bakura's personality…Yugi was in a better position to polish it up

**Masaka:** Hopefully after this any lingering Bakura haters out there can ease up a bit. Bakura has had a hard time people! He doesn't know HOW to deal with people! For him to just get a normal job and not shadow-blast people whenever he feels like is a big step for him

**Yami Masaka: **And besides Nizuki's little aside is very important for the overall plot. We need to see some of her weaknesses. And Nero's avoidance of the pheromone factory, and Ryou's relationship with his sempai! It's all important!

**Jason: **So read and review! Keep the flames in the furnaces and LET THE TREATS FLOW FORTH LIKE A GREAT TIDE!!

**Nero:** Pretty please


	33. Breaking Point: The Demons Act

**Masaka: -getting all huffy and angry over a Peach Girl comic-** Oh! Someone just smack her! Come on! It isn't assault if the [witch is really asking for it! Come on! Comeoncomeoncomeon!

**Yami Masaka: **-**embarrassed-** 'Saka is so in awe of her hate of Sae that she can't stand it. It's both really cute…and a little sad

**Masaka:** Oh! You evil, evil [witch! That's it! You are officially on my must-die list! You cannot DO that to Momo! Frankly, you can't do that to anyone but especially not MOMO! Ooooh Kiley you're a man, you kick her ass!! Damn stupid female mind-tricks! Hate that catty behavior! If you have a problem with someone you scream insulting names in each-other's face and wail on each-other until you're both unconscious! Stupid Sae, stupid Sae, stupid Sae!!!

**Yami Masaka**:** -twitches in annoyance and clears her throat-** Uh aibou?

**Masaka: -waves hand in dismissive American gesture-** Yah, yah! The story, I'm on it, but right now I have to see….NOOOOOOOO!!!!! STUPID TOJI!

**Yami Masaka: -slumped over in acute embarrassment- **Okay then I'll just start us up then

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Trika was not an easily sated young demoness. Which, you know is expected on her particular genus but, even by Underworld standards, Trika was rather high-maintenance.

Her contracted partner had to check-out nine different hotels in the Tokyo area before he was able to find a suite that suited Trika's desires. And then that same partner had to drag Trika's many bags up to the room, and he'd had to get someone to keep the girl entertained and he'd had to find a gourmet meal (one that wasn't Japanese cuisine, eww, thank you very much, _querida) _on top of the other duties he had to pull just to keep up with their mission.

Frankly, it was rather amazing that he hadn't just dumped her ass in a sanctuary somewhere and watched her immortal skin fry off.

But that was impossible. By the writ of service that he'd made for himself by his misdeeds in Hell, there was no way Trika could be brought down by him. Ahhh, Hell's contract-making ability really kicked-ass. And not in a good way either.

"_Eslavo_, when exactly do you think we can make our move on the lights? I mean, as _mucho_ (entertaining) as it is here on Earth, I miss home. I want to soak in a sulfur bath sooo badly. I mean, just LOOK at what all this mortal turbulence is doing to my skin," Trika sighed as she reviewed her reflection in front of the vanity mirror.

Her partner couldn't see a single flaw in his mistress's copper skin, but then again, succubae didn't have outstanding flaws in the first place.

"Just a little while longer, mistress," he sighed warily.

"Hmph!" the Hispanic brat pouted, pouting her brilliant neon pink lips (which matched the neon pink tips of her pom-pom hairdo) and slamming her dainty little manicured hands onto the dresser top. "You are such a bargain-basement disappointment _eslavo!_ A greater incubus would be finished by now!"

"I was originally damned for reasons other than my seductive skills, mistress," the demon sighed as, yet again, his owner complained about his supposed inabilities. "I have told you that countless times. If you wanted me to meddle with the light's mind so that he assassinated some important Head of State, I'd have no problem, but seducing…it is new to me."

Trika just snorted again and adjusted her translucent jacket on her shoulders. Even if the demoness wasn't partial to much of the Japanese culture, she could definitely blend in with the Harijuku crowd if she had to. Her outfit was more like a sultry anime day-dream than actual clothing.

He'd had his Familiar work three non-stop days to make sure it turned out that way (1). The poor soul-bearing rose had nearly dropped its petals from such work. (2)

"Well…you said you'd be sending up some teenagers to my room later, correct? To keep me 'company'?" Trika snapped.

"Yes mistress, three teenage boys, and two teenage girls. I picked them up in Shinjuku," he said monotone. He really wasn't proud of this particular errand. The kids had all looked so trusting, even for speed-dating, old man thieving, sexed-up, drugged-up little miscreants.

He was not looking forward to the clean-up tomorrow. Trika had to learn better eating habits or else she'd get them caught before they'd even set the first snare.

"Good," Trika smiled at her reflection. "Now then, while I am entertaining myself, I want you to go ahead and grant our little high-school friend that particular wish he wanted."

This caught him off-guard. He'd expected his mistress to give him his usual dismissal and send him back to his boyf…his target.

"I'm…not sure I understand."

"Shogi Hayashi wished to divorce himself from his emotions, and wished for the prowess to _morder_ this little…what was it again…little _childhood crush_ of his? I think such a request is easily within our power to answer. Give him the standard Power Contract…make the terms…for his…ah yes, make the terms for his sexuality. I'd looooove to make him pine after another male after this. I want to see how far we can push him…ah! Maybe we'll make him into another serial-killer? Wouldn't that be fun, _mi __caliente juguete_?"

Well…she was calling him by pet-names now, so at least for now HIS ass wasn't in the line-of-fire…but that boy…he was Trika's mark now.

"I…will always do as commanded, my mistress…but, begging your indulgence, I do think it is wise to-"

The nail-filer Trika threw at him managed to slice his cheek deeper than he would have figured.

"I AM THE MISTRESS, YOU ARE THE SLAVE! WHEN I SAY I WANT SOMETHING DONE, WE DO NOT NEGOTIATE IT, WE DO IT! NOW GO OUT THERE AND GIVE OUR PAWN HIS TONIC AND PREPARE FOR THE FIRST-HALF OF THE PLAN!! YOU HAVE ALL DAY TO SET IT UP SO YOU HAVE NO EXCUSES FOR NOT BEING READY WHEN I MEET YOU AT THE SCHOOL! NOW GO!" Trika screeched, her beautiful face melting like wax. Her fangs glistened with blue-poison and her scaly wings stretched up over her head like a cobra's hood.

He shuddered at her appearance and nodded firmly. He let his fingers trace lightly over his Familiar's pot, (1) taking in as much of the less potent magic as he could before disapperating.

Once he was gone, Trika managed to calm herself back down until she was once again beautiful enough for Maxim. She knotted her robe tighter around her waist and positioned herself seductively on her couch.

Right now, she had mortals to devour. All else could wait.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Yugi kind of figured there was something wrong with Atsushi the moment he stepped into the auditorium (for once without Nero).

It wasn't OBVIOUS but Yugi could tell that the dyed red-head was definitely not in his usual state-of-mind because of the fact that Atsushi was just sitting in one of the theater chairs reviewing some club paperwork quietly.

Atsushi NEVER worked on paperwork quietly.

Atsushi was probably the worst bureaucrat that had ever happened to pick up a pen. In fact, 'bureaucrat' was a term that shouldn't have been connected with Atsushi at all, anarchist maybe, revolutionist maybe, but not bureaucrat.

When he was supposed to be looking over the club's budget after-school with Mitsuko, Atsushi was out in the park alternatively chasing after his tribe of wild chibi sisters or running away from his fans.

When he was supposed to be typing up a trip-proposal to give to the student council for consideration, Atsushi was giving 'extra lessons' to some of the freshman members over at his neighborhood's local karaoke parlor.

And when he was supposed to be coming up with a practice schedule to get everyone ready for the Winter Festival he was just inexplicably "unavailable".

Yugi knew all this because he happened to be really good at picking up Mitsuko's screeches from across-campus. After hearing their bash-happy president screaming like that none of the Karaoke Club Members had ever questioned if Mitsuko even had the ability to sing (A/N: the club had never heard her do more than scratch her pencil against her clipboard).

Lung power was the dish-water blonde's specialty bar none.

So seeing Atsushi sitting passively in a chair with a stack of papers on his knee and ink-splotches on his fingers was, to Yugi, a clearer sign of trouble than if the red-head had come charging into the auditorium with a bra over his head screeching out for all the world to hear that he was made of chocolate (which wasn't actually that bizarre a thing to think to happen considering the pursue-to-the-death tactics of the local fangirls and the type of mental trauma they could inflict or where inflicted with).

"Um…Mamio-kun?" Yugi asked curiously from over the chairs immediately behind the future rock-god.

"Uuuuh-huh?" Atsushi asked in an unearthly bored and worrisomely distracted tone.

"…Did something happen over the weekend?" Yugi asked.

"Not really…nothing out of the ordinary anyway," Atsushi shrugged.

Yugi nearly growled in annoyance at the short-answer. He did manage to restrain himself though and so he simply pouted instead.

"Okay then…is there some issue of your mind that you might want to talk about?"

"Do I look like I need to talk?" Atsushi asked not unkindly.

"Well, frankly …yes! You are waaaay too quiet right now! It's kinda freaking me out," Yugi huffed.

Atsushi seemed startled by that admission and he turned in his chair to stare at Yugi in appropriate puzzlement.

"Do I really act so hyper all the time that five minutes of quiet is so unusual?" he blinked.

"…Um…how do I answer 'yes' to that question without sounding a little cruel?" Yugi smiled cutely.

Atsushi frowned and bonked Yugi's forehead lightly with his fist in revenge then leaned his head back against the seat.

"Well as much as it would surprise you to know, I do happen to have a quiet-side. Besides Mitsuko isn't going to be coming to club-meetings for a while because she's taking this mock-college exam so if I don't do it we're all screwed."

"A mock-college exam? But aren't the seniors doing those later this year anyway?" Yugi blinked.

"Eeeeh, not really. For the first-semester we review, after the winter-break ends and second semester starts THEN we mock-exam like crazy to shove what knowledge we didn't bother to review into our craniums just wee months before the actual college exam session starts up," Atsushi moaned as if this information were some deeply tragic family history.

"You don't really seem all that tense," Yugi frowned.

"Well, that might be because I don't plan on going to college," Atsushi smiled warily.

"Wha-? Why not?" Yugi stared, "When you and Mitsuko got into that big fight about colleges last week I thought you-"

"Ooooh, when we were screaming about whether or not Tokyo U really IS the greatest school in Japan and she beamed me with the Clipboard of Doom thirty-seven consecutive times until I relented? Ahhh I was just arguing with her about that because she's a Tokyo U wannabe and I love messin' with her. No, you see, with my six little sisters to take care of and my rather Shogi-sullied school records…I figured I'd go to work first and then maybe after a few years take a stab at the higher-education thing…that is if I don't get signed by a music agency first," Atsushi snickered.

"Oh…soooo then you're in a blue-funk because of colleges?" Yugi blinked.

"Nope," Atsushi shrugged.

"Then what is it? Because even if you ARE responsible for the paperwork until Mitsuko comes back I still doubt you'd be this quiet while doing them unless there was something really wrong."

Atsushi opened his mouth to comment then closed it and opened it again and closed it once more. The future rock-god then sat up and looked around the auditorium. Aside from one of two mooning Atsushi-gals (A/N: Girls who have devoted themselves to being Atsushi fans above all other guys) a few lanes down no one was paying much attention to the pair.

"Well…okay if you want to know the truth, it's Shogi," Atsushi relented in a small sigh.

"Hayashi?! What's he got to do with anything?!" Yugi all but screamed, feeling a fresh wave of rage boiling up from the volatile emotion core he'd built up in himself after Yami ran off to Otogi's place. "Did that…that BASTARD do anything to you? Did he do something to one of the freshman members?! If he did we can call the police on him! I know we can! I'll pick up my stuff and we can both go to-"

"Will you calm down?" Atsushi huffed in exasperation, "Sheesh, little kohai, what's gotten into you? Usually you're so sweet and adorable."

"Well it's just…Hayashi ticks me off," Yugi blushed. Atsushi laughed and whatever lingering rage Yugi was feeling evaporated.

"Well I can definitely understand that. Shogi has pretty much made himself Karaoke Club's Numero Uno enemy," Atsushi sighed, running a hand through his hair, causing his bangs to shift and flop in that way that made his fans sigh like mad.

"You don't think he is?" Yugi asked, trying to not let the sight of the two convulsing Atsushi-gals distract him from his conversation.

"Mmm…I don't think Shogi's bias against the Karaoke Club has done us any good," the co-president sighed.

"Buuuut-" Yugi prompted.

"But I don't really hate the guy," Atsushi pouted, "I mean…I understand and fully appreciate why the rest of the club does but…well…Hayashi Shogi is just…he's just not like this all the time. Or at least he wasn't."

Yugi crawled over the top of the chairs to sit next to his club senior and he took half the pile of papers off the boy's knee.

"How about this, I fill out some of your paperwork if you tell me about Shogi?" Yugi offered.

Atsushi let out a little faux-sob and gave Yugi a hug; "you're a real angel, man! Whatever you want to know I'll tell you!"

Yugi blushed and laughed and pried the older boy off of him then went to work filling in the reports and other slips needed to run a club in Domino High.

And while he did so Atsushi laid out the synopsis of Shogi's life, including all the darker details that would ruin both himself and the club-enemy if they should be leaked to the right people.

At the end of practice Yugi still hated Hayashi Shogi but he wasn't as afraid of him as he once was.

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While Yugi was enjoying his extracurricular activity Yami was agonizing over what to do about Yugi. As expected of him the ex-pharaoh was not content to let things work themselves out and was too proud to admit that he had been wrong about how to deal with Yugi.

And as expected of them Otogi, Honda and Joey were listening to the ex-spirit because they couldn't figure out a way to NOT listen and avoid a sound mystic scolding.

"I mean, Tea is back from her trip now so I know I can trust myself around Yugi without feeling…Well I can trust myself to not latch onto Yugi," Yami said, mostly to himself, as he paced the corridor of the school that was just a few feet away from the club.

"_If anyone takes that bet they're dumb as Weevil_," Joey whispered to the other two hostages of pharaonic breakdowns.

"_Yami certainly thinks he can do it,"_ Otogi whispered back as Yami continued to rant-on obliviously.

"_Yah, well Yami isn't exactly what you'd called 'emotionally intelligent'. Frankly, I don't think the guy has the slightest idea why he's so upset about this and it's all going to blow up in his face, __**yet again**_," Honda hissed at the both.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Yami yelled, holding his head in both hands.

The three boy yelped and focused all their attention back on the diminutive former ruler (you know, just in case they might have reason to look out for a burst of shadow-magic).

"Why does Yugi have to be so difficult all the time??! Why couldn't he just have let things stay the way they were three months ago, huh?"

Joey, Honda and Otogi exchanged looks trying to silently debate on whether or not such a question should be answered or, for the better of all, left hypothetical.

"Uuuh, Yami…bud. Three months ago Yugi was hanging out every afternoon by himself in the Game Shop…it's kinda cruel a ya to say you want things to go back to that," Joey mentioned.

"Yes I know that," Yami all but whined, his face scrunched up in discomfort," but…it's just that…Yugi is just…"

"Too Yugi for his own good?" Honda said with a teasing smirk.

"That's it exactly," Yami said with his own exhausted smile.

Otogi took this opportunity of lack of Yami-temper to stretch casually and look at his wrist-watch.

"Is that the time? Damn! I've gotta run! I have to meet this publicity lady at Domino Tower in about forty-minutes, and if I don't run right now there is no way I'm getting through traffic in time," the game-inventor groaned.

"Domino Tower eh, sounds like a pretty fancy place for a business meeting," Joey grinned tauntingly, not letting the fact that Domino Tower was the most expensive and romantic eatery in a five-hundred mile radius pass-by unnoticed.

"This particular publicist is really high-class," Otogi blushed, avoiding eve-contact with the blonde as if he were Medusa.

"Uh-huh suuuuure. An' I'll bet the fact that she's probably some radiant beauty wit' thighs firm enough to kill a guy has noooothin' to do wit' it, ne?" Joey snickered.

"Shut up_, virgin_," Otogi snarled, making a mock snatch for Joey's head as he stood up and headed towards the door. Joey dodged it easily and continued to grin wickedly.

"…See you tomorrow then Otogi," Yami sighed after taking a moment to decide whether or not to freak out over this desertion. The lack of shadow magic suggested the more mature action.

"Hey, if Otogi is getting excused from this meeting of the Yugi-Stalkers can I go too? I promised my sister I'd babysit Joji today," Honda spoke up.

"Ooooh, the perv-baby again, what's he again three-years-old?"

"Four…and he's still a pain in the ass, just a pain in the ass that happens to be really accelerated and thereby beyond my reach to properly punish…it sucks but it seems I've gotta have a kid with a 300 IQ myself before my parents will give a damn about what I think again," Honda sighed heavily.

"Wow that sucks," Joey winced in sympathy.

"Yes it does. Alright Honda, I guess you can leave as well," Yami shrugged. Honda grinned ecstatically and snatched up his backpack before sprinting to the door.

Silence hovered over the remaining teens before Yami looked annoyed at Joey and asked: "so what chore do you have lined up that demands your immediate attention?"

"Dude, Yugi is as important to me as he is to you. I ain't gonna go and bus tables like nothin's goin' on if he's honestly in some trouble…'Sides if I leave you alone who knows what kinda crazy stunt you'd pull," Joey said with his patented Joey Wheeler Good Guy Grin.

Some tension ran out of the ex-pharaoh's shoulders and Yami smiled.

"Thank you, Joey."

"No problem. So you were goin' on about how ya can trust yerself around Yugi and how things are too damn complicated," Joey said casually waving his hand in a way that said Yami should start talking again.

"Oh yes, I was going on a bit wasn't I?" Yami seemed to finally realize. He scratched the back of his head thoughtfully then looked at Joey in uncharacteristic concern.

"What do you think about this, Joey?"

"Hmm? Well…honestly…err…" Joey flushed embarrassedly and poked his index-fingers together, "honestly I think you're obsessin' in a way that…that might be a little too…well…too much for what it is…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Yami asked with honest curiosity, "I worry about Yugi too much for what it is?"

"Eh errhm…eh uuuh…well…weeeeell," Joey whined heavily. It was obvious that he didn't want to talk about this particular subject; his body was all but trembling from pent-up discomfort.

"You think I worry about him too much for someone who's ignored him for the last four months, that's it isn't it?" Yami slumped in depression.

"Nah man!" Joey leapt up in shock, "I mean ya worry too much about Yugi for a guy who says he's in love wit' his giiiiirl…oh snap."

Yami was now staring at his blonde companion as if the teenager had just suggested something obscene. Which, in a way, Joey kind of had.

"You think…you think that…I'm looking after Yugi…in a romantically possessive manner? Even though I have proven, physically even, that I am in a relationship that I have no intention of breaking with Tea? Is that what you are really suggesting?"

"Eh…Hey! You know what; I bet this crepe truck that travels 'round here is probably comin' down the street right about now. I'm gonna go grab us some, an' an' after I get back with the crepes we can…ya know…keep watchin' over Yugi or …whatever. Yah, that sounds like a great plan, don't it? Protectors like us gotta keep our strength up and all…um…I'll be right back," Joey flushed heavily as he athletically threw himself to his feet and dashed for the door.

For some reason or other Joey hadn't felt as though he'd been able to lie to his best bud's best bud about what he thought. It was as if his little shoulder angel had kicked him in the teeth to get the words across his lips before his mental filter even thought about coming out.

Even for him, the loose-lip duelist wonder, this was a little extreme.

"Man," Joey huffed to himself as he ran to the street, "I really hope I didn' just say somethin' that will mess Yami an' Yugi's friendship up too much."

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

While Yami was coming to grips with this new information out in the hallway (A/N: handling it rather well too considering nothing suddenly vanished into a vortex of swirling purple and black) something sinister was unfolding in the auditorium.

Something really, really sinister.

Breaking with his usual guerrilla warfare tactics against the club, Shogi had shown up during the meeting.

Well 'he showed up' wasn't exactly what the future-yakuza did. Shogi had just sort of appeared in the balcony of the auditorium half-way through practice and interrupted everything by laughing in a sinister, echoing manner that did not sound at all sane.

While the members of the club started to get panicked Shogi stood up from his seat and crooned out a request: 'would you little pixies mind scattering for a few minutes so me and my deeeeear friend Mamio can have a little private discussion?'

Rather than let them hang around and possibly set the dark-haired boy off Atsushi had hustled everyone out the fire-escape backstage. Or he tried at least. Several of the group members including Yugi came back inside as soon as Atsushi's attention was turned and crouched in the shadows of the left stage to keep an eye on things.

They watched in both horror and fascination as Shogi vaulted himself off the balcony to the first-floor without a flinch. What made the sight more impressive was the trench-coat Shogi was wearing seemed to flutter behind the teen's back like a pair of dark wings that seemed almost too big to be just his coat-tails trailing behind him.

Atsushi stood his ground on the stage through this spectacle and crossed his arms defiantly across his chest.

"Well-well Hayashi_-kun_, you're a gymnast now! I had absolutely no idea you were so talented," the fake red-head snorted.

Behind them the fire-exit opened once again and Mitsuko, fresh from her mock-exam came in.

"What are you guys-"Yugi and the others shushed the dirty-blonde violently and pulled her down into a crouch with the rest of them.

"Hello Atsushi, you are looking too well for my comfort," Shogi responded to Atsushi's goad with a calm nonchalance that was far beyond uncharacteristic of him.

"…What's with you, man? You sound funny. Did something happen at home?" Atsushi asked in worry, his arms slipping out from their firm position slightly.

"Heh-heh-heh-heh," Shogi snickered darkly as he continued his stride towards the stage, "dear old Atsushi, ever the concerned friend. You always did worry yourself sick over my sake. Like that time my old man got a little too overzealous while lecturing me about my grades. Do you remember that time, Ma-chan? He hit me so hard that I nearly lost all vision in my left-eye. You weren't supposed to be at my house but you can barging in through the front-door like some damn samurai and you hauled me outta there. I stayed at your damn little chicken-coop of an apartment for about a month and your parents called CPS."

"Yah…I…I remember that time, Shogi. I remember that time a little too well at times. Your old man scared the piss outta me then and even after all the therapy he still scares me."

"You don't seem that scared," Shogi titled his head to one side, "In general, I mean. You don't ever seem scared enough of him that it matters. You always try to tattle on me when I play with your little friends. …You do know that it's play, don't you Ma-chan? When I do things to your little singing fairy friends, I mean. Because it is just playing around. I'd neeeever do anything to really hurt them. Why would I? They're your friends after all, Ma-chan."

"W-will you stop calling me Ma-chan, already? You haven't called me that since I told you I…" Atsushi's voice dropped off immediately.

Shogi's pace never faltered for a moment, his thick steel-toed boots thumping in almost military like beat on the carpeting of the auditorium. His coat swished behind him with every step making the march into a kind of music:_ swish thump swish swash thump._

Yugi and crew shuffled just a little closer to the open stage, just close enough that they could see Shogi. Their club nemesis was really in-character today. Everything about him from his all black outfit to his demented wide-eyed stare just seemed to ooze 'dastardly villain.'

And while the rest of the group was seeing Hayashi charging up to the stage by himself Yugi was getting the extended spiritual vision sense-view. It was entirely clear but Yugi could see a sort of dark…dust…circulating around Atsushi like it was the silhouette of another person or creature. The shadows billowed about three feet above Shogi's head and stretched two feet horizontally.

Yugi was sure that not only was that silhouette twice as large as its owner, it also had horns and a shadowy tail that reached all the way back to the double-doors of the auditorium entrance.

"This is really bad," Yugi growled to himself, feeling the anger inside him boil gentle up like a slow molten pool. He wasn't sure what the anger was reacting to yet, but he had a bad feeling he'd know in just a second.

"You're very kind, Ma-chan," Shogi continued his creepy little speech uninhibited by Atsushi's sudden silence, "You are so very…very kind…and yet you are unbelievably cruel as well. I mean…you taunt when you should embrace…and you rebel when you SHOULD obey."

"Sho…Hayashi. Hayashi-san, just calm down a second would you? I have no idea why you'd just show up here out of the blue but I can guess it isn't to catch up on old times. Hayashi I'm BEGGING you to just sit down for a second and let me get the school councilor. Not Harrison-san either, I mean the REAL Dr. Daichi, would you just let me do that, Hayashi-san? Then you me and the doc can all sit down and…and talk about whatever it is you want to talk about," Atsushi said in a very level voice with a subtle undertone of concern, "I want us to talk."

Shogi had reached the stage by now, he'd even managed to walk up the stage-steps while no one was looking and he was now exactly ten feet away from Atsushi. About the same distance two gunslingers were placed in older American Western movies.

"The time for talking has just about reached its end, Ma-chan," Shogi was serenely smiling. One hand was digging around very worrisomely inside his jacket. "I just have a question or two left and then well... our troubles will all end I suppose you could say."

"Shogi," Atsushi was whispering, "Shogi please, whatever it is just let me get the doc. We can work it out, we always worked it out."

"Let's see we were about…fifteen at the time I think," Shogi was continuing on with whatever little speech he'd been laying out since he'd first arrive, "you, me, and our various friends. You and Ren-sempai had broken up the year before and I was starting to think that everything would be just like it was before."

"Shogi…you know things weren't the same after Ren-sempai and I…I-I mean you remember how you…what you and I talked about after I first…f-first kissed him? I mean…you do remember that time in the garage and…what you did?" Atsushi said in a very peculiar pinched sort of voice.

Shogi titled his head to the other side and smiled as serenely as if he were meeting Buddha himself. Nothing in the expression suggested violence and yet Shogi's right hand was still digging around in his jacket.

"You mean that time when I kissed you?"

The peanut-gallery slammed their hands over each other's mouths to keep their gasps of surprise from escaping. They had figured that Atsushi and Hayashi had had a history but not…THAT kind of history.

"When you made an embarrassing mistake, you mean," Atsushi said levelly. "Damn Shogi, we both understood that kiss didn't mean anything. We BOTH did. You were just terrified I was going to get too distracted with Ren-sempai to keep you safe from your dad and you…I guess the idea was that you wanted to get me back. But…Shogi…we both know that you are a strict skirt-man. I want to remind you that it was an easy mistake! Nobody got hurt and we both got closer because of it! We both laughed about that after it was over, remember, you said you would chase after me unless I suddenly grew boobs and I said…you remember what I said Shogi?"

"You said…that if you did grow boobs…you'd be too busy playing with yourself to bother with anyone ever again," Shogi said as if awaking from a trance.

Atsushi smiled warmly and let off a very soft and sad laugh, "Ya Shogi. That's what I said. And we laughed about that and you punched my arm and called me a pervert. And I said I was only a pervert because I went after what I want without any sense of decency…and you agreed."

"…We were about a week or so from graduating," Shogi went back into his sterile story-mode and Atsushi nearly pushed things too far by shouting out something foul, "we'd both decided to come to Domino High and you said something to me that I can't really forget…you said…that Domino High School…had to be a decent school because the woman you loved wouldn't pick anything less than the best."

Atsushi's whole body tensed up and he sent a paranoid glance over to the side-stage. For the first time Yugi and crew realized that Atsushi knew they were there…and he knew who was there as well.

"That was very cruel of you to say, Ma-chan," Shogi pouted, "that woman you love bit, I mean. You had gotten me all confused with that Ren-sempai business…and then you went back to skirt-chasing. It nearly drove me nuts."

"Please Shogi…please don't," Atsushi chocked.

"Mitsuko Kichi, the number one student in our school, and the girl whose parents were just about as stern as mine…Shit, Ma-chan, I hadn't thought you would ever go after someone who was anything like me even if it was just in family. I shocked the hell out of me," Shogi snickered darkly.

Atsushi stared at Mitsuko in pure terror, unable to truly see the straw-haired co-president but still catching her eyes all the same.

"But my parents had already set up a marriage-meeting with Mitsuko's parents, hadn't they? They did and I was…I was happy about it," Shogi continued.

"Shogi you were only happy about it because if you had gone through with it, your dad would have never said a word to you again. Mitsuko was everything he wanted in a kid and you thought you could pass the buck onto her and get out of trouble altogether. You never gave a damn about her as a person," Atsushi huffed as if he were out of breath, "God DAMN you, Shogi, you never once cared about her like that. I came over to your house all six times your mother brought Mitsuko over and you didn't talk to her for more than five minutes at a time."

"SHE WAS MY GIRL AND YET YOU COULDN'T KEEP YOUR DAMN NOSE OUT OF IT AND YOU-YOU _**TALKED**_ TO MY FATHER, AND CONVINCED HIM THAT I COULDN'T HANDLE BEING ENGAGED SO YOUNG! YOU _**LIED**_ TO THAT MAN AND SAID I WAS INCAPABLE OF HANDLING A RELATIONSHIP AND SCHOOL AT THE SAME TIME!!_** AND HE BELIEVED YOU!!" **_Shogi's hand had found what it was looking for and he hauled out the sickest looking knife that Yugi had ever seen.

Unlike the switch-blades that such bullies as Ushio had used on him this particular slice of steel was a military grade blade. This type of dagger would be strapped to a soldier's thigh and pulled out for mostly gentle purposes.

The grooved tip made it practical for all sorts of uses, even opening soda-cans if you used it right. Yugi's father had actually had one that came from a real-live WWII veteran who'd been assigned to travel through their area after peace was declared. That knife had sat in Hidoshi Moto's study for seven or so years before Solomon had donated it and all the other keepsakes Yugi's mother had hoarded to the local historical society.

"Shogi," Atsushi was almost crying, his hands held up in supplication, "Shogi, my crush on Mits was only part of that! A really, really small part. I called Mits the love of my life as a joke at the time to try and get a laugh out of you! You'd been so tense during the exam-season that I was afraid you'd do something really irresponsible. I haven't made a play on Mitsuko in all our time at Domino because I wanted to make sure things didn't suddenly pick up again between you two. I-I mean I didn't think things would…I hoped they wouldn't but…I wanted to be sure you know? I-I mean," Atsushi's eyes were fixed on the shadows," I mean I really do l-love her. But…but I had to be sure."

Shogi's knife should have sent Yugi and crew running. But it didn't. Somehow, despite ever panic-inspired muscle in the four teenage boy and one teenage girl's body, none of them could move. Again only Yugi could see why. Those shadows that had surrounded Shogi like a simple silhouette were now wrapped around their bodies like fish netting. The furthest anyone managed to move was nine inches, and it had been Mitsuko, who looked too stunned to really do anything anyway who had moved that far.

Atsushi's hands were doing a small little dance in front of the boy's body. They kept going from defensive positions to submissive positions and worried impartial crosses in-between. And Atsushi's eyes were going from neon emerald to dark wood-mold as his emotions raced through the scales of panic and compassion.

Shogi took a single step backwards, his hands moving into a position that was familiar to Yugi because of the bucket of plastic solider figures he still had stored up in his bedroom.

"I would have found a gun if I'd had more time. Damn guns are too hard to get in Japan, you know?" Shogi chuckled to himself as he raised his knife to align exactly with the vulnerable bone-less section of Atsushi's chest.

"Don't ruin your life like this man. I swear to GOD and his saints that I will do whatever I possibly can legal or otherwise to help you out with your family situation if you just-put-the-goddamn-knife-down!" Atsushi swore, his last six-words coming out almost like six short sentences.

"My father," Shogi spat, "always took your side over mine. Always."

"Shogi!" Atsushi screamed.

"No more," Shogi growled.

And he lunged.

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(A/N: Hah-hah I bet you thought I'd stop there, didn't you? Well I won't! I'll just break it up…and STILL leave you with a cliff-hanger BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

If you happened to be a Gifted (in the angelic sense of the word) student attending Domino High School and through some rather unlikely turn of events happened to be sitting in the balcony where Shogi had jumped from and you managed to retain enough composure to not run for the exit, you'd be met with a rather unusual sight.

For you see in that balcony at that time there were two Other-World creations posted on the walls. The first was an angelic device. It looked like a silvery piece of gum-wrapped stamped against the wall by the sticky-substance it was supposed to contain, but to a Gifted One's eyes it was clearly a _Mirror-Eye._ Imbued with a wisp of self-awareness this little treat kept it gaze firmly on the fight below, showing in its strongly distorted reflection the auras of all those below.

Shogi's was reflected as deepest black, a cancer like cloud encompassing every inch of him except for his head which was bathed with a dizzying brown-gray mess of fear and reserve.

Atsushi's aura was reflected as almost completely green, calming and caring, with flecks of silver suggesting a rather kind angelic talent of connecting to others. The only place where this color was not apparent was his stomach, in which Shogi's knife was deeply buried. That area of his body was streaming out painful red and scattered white of high protection.

The _Mirror-Eye_ was focused almost entirely on that area of red, using its own limited powers to keep it red and white.

The other device on the balcony walls was just as ingeniously disguised as the angel's. It took the form old a mold-covered candy-bar on the floor. Only if one had sight of spiritual things, you could see that the mold was radiating not an earthy color of natural life but an unreal neon purple radiation of nothing physically real. This little creation called the _Wall-Eye_ was a very self-aware demonic device that not only watched everything with aura-sensitive eyes but judged how matters were proceeding.

And if you were a Gifted One who happened to be on that balcony at that time you'd be dismayed to pick a sense of…happiness…from the unnatural thing as it watched the auras of those back-stage flash different colors…and as you watch it reflect Yugi's aura which had once been a kind and spiritual silvery-yellowturn a very vivid red, a red that was not like Atsushi's, at least not more than empathetically, but rather was a red that spelled out aggression and hate.

If you were a Gifted One who happened to be on that balcony at that time you'd see Yugi's aura flare unnaturally and you'd see the little _Wall-Eye _pinch at it, bruising its outer-edges with black.

And you'd see Yugi charged over to Shogi, who was now all brown in aura, holding his blood-slicked knife loosely in his hand, and see Yugi smacked Shogi in the next with his elbow.

You'd see Mitsuko, rainbow-colored in confusion scramble over to a convulsing Atsushi's side and hold the boy close, close enough that their auras almost blended.

And if you were a Gifted One who happened to be watching this terrible event unfold from the balcony you'd see Yugi's aura turn darker and darker as he screamed at Shogi and picked up the knife.

And you'd see the red of his aura consume that knife as Yugi stepped forward with a purpose.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND**

**Masaka: Okay people! Time to explain the brackets!**

**1. Familiar:** As a rule, only used by lower level demons. Familiars come in all shapes and forms from simple tadpoles to damned human-being. Demons can have more than one Familiar, but generally only one. The Familiar makes a bond with its demon that grants both partners equal benefits. Demons usually bestow their partial immortality on their Familiars while the Familiars enable demons to cast spells without the use of a Starlight bottle.

**2. Soul-Bearing Rose: **Often mistaken as member of the Sidhe (fairy-race) these creatures are so of the rarest being on or below the earth. A soul-bearing rose will start its life out as an ordinary plant with only as much consciousness as a baby. If the plant is taken care of it will blossom into a human-child form. Trika's partner's particular rose is a hybrid pink tea rose that happens to be old enough that it can transform into an adult form if it concentrates hard enough. Its day-to-day form is a child with brilliant pink hair and darker pink eyes. Trika's partner's Familiar-bond with the rose has kept it from dying in the natural cycle a normal plant would follow. Because the rose is Trika's partner's Familiar and Trika's partner is an indentured slave at the moment, the rose is also a slave of Trika.

**3. Mirror Eye:** Does anyone remember these? Nizuki made a bunched of enchanted mirrors to keep an eye on her faux and real protectorate. And BOY did she cover a lot of ground.

**4. Wall Eye:** It wouldn't surprise me if nobody remembers these suckers. Trika introduced them by a Spanglish name but it meant 'wall' 'eye' if I translated right. These bad-boys are just about the same as Nizuki's only meant for evil purposes. Trika can mentally tap into these things and no, nobody talks to her through them. Honestly, who would want to?

**Masaka: passes out from the strain**

**Yami Masaka:** YOU ACTUALLY WROTE OUT ALL THE EVIL AND PAIN!!! AND YOU DID IT SO FREAKING WELL!!! I MEAN THAT SHOGI DAD BIT HADN'T MADE SENSE LIKE IT DOES NOW!!! HOLY COW!!!

**Jason:** You are incredible mistress! I can't believe your talent! This superbly creepy and it will launch you into the next chapter so well! Now all you need to do is figure out how to do that demon game and you're all set! The first-half of the Heavenly series is almost over

**Yami Masaka:** Oh that's right! But we need a name for the second half don't we? What should we call it? Heavenly Mistakes? Heavenly Lessons? Heavenly Highjicks? Heavenly Help? Heavenly Deviations? Heavenly Judgements?

**Jason:** How about we make it the 'Interventions' series and make it Purgatory Interventions? Or Millennium Interventions? Or maybe Loving Interventions? Hikari Interventions? Angelic Interventions?

**Yami Masaka:** Demonic Interventions?

**Jason:** No, no! I know! Mortal Interventions! That'd be perfect!!!

**Yami Masaka:** And unbelievable I agree with you! Mortal Interventions would really be perfect! Let's wake Masaka up and suggest it!!

**Jason:** We have to close the chapter first!

**Yami Masaka:** Oh! Oh yah! **Clears throat** REVIEW ALL YOU PEOPLE OR WE WILL NEVER EVER TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS NEXT MWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

**Jason: **And you know she'd kept that threat too!


	34. Fight For What Is Lost

**Masaka:** I'd like to thank Satomi Matoh, creator of Fake, for her ingenious plots. This whole Yami/Yugi moment is sponsored by her creativity

**Yami Masaka:** Also! Flames for this particular chapter will be highly critiqued! If we get even ONE stupid comment about how were awful people for doing this to the hikaris I will PERSONALY barge into that critiquer's soul-room and mess things up SO much no decent muse for a thousand dream generations will dare enter after me!!

**Jason: **However, if you have helpful critique about Yugi's dialogue or how everyone should have handled Atsushi's injuries than we will shower you with Nero cuddles, because honestly, who doesn't appreciate a helping hand in writing?

**Nero: WARNING IT ALL GETS AWFUL, CREEPY AND BLOODY FOR HERE ON IN!!**

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

The anger that Yugi had been holding inside ever since the moment Yami first left him alone came charging out in a sudden burst of heat that engulfed every nerve of his body.

Screaming obscene and meaningless words the tri-colored haired youth struck out at Shogi. The shadow-overwhelmed teen barely shifted under Yugi's added weight so Yugi struck again and again until Shogi was forced good and well away from Atsushi.

The blood from Atsushi's wound was still steadily flowing, drenching the singer's white shirt with a flood of living crimson.

Without Atsushi in his grasp Hayashi seemed to go to pieces. The uneven pitch of his breathing atop of his pained wheezing made it seem like Shogi was choking but Yugi didn't care.

"YOU SONNAVABITCH!" Yugi screamed so hard mist flew from his lips. "YOU SONNAVABITCH! ATSUSHI WAS YOUR FRIEND!! YOU GODDAMN SONNAVABITCH HOMOPHOBE MONSTER! HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU?"

"I-I didn't…I d-didn't mean…I wasn't going to really…" Shogi gapped, humanity returning in an eerie flash to his eyes.

Yugi didn't notice it though; he was still seized with senseless anger. The light grabbed the knife still soaked red from Atsushi's blood off the floor and stabbed it viciously in Shogi's direction, driving him AWAY from Atsushi and from all the brave club-members who hadn't given into Shogi's threats.

"Not so brave without THIS damn thing, are ya?" Yugi said with a slash, "not so damned convinced of your superiority when YOU'RE on the other end of the tip!"

The heat was not turning into chill, a deep frigid chill that made grasping the knife's handle almost impossible because of the disconcerting numbness.

"You call Atsushi all sorts of things like 'faggot', 'queen', and 'fairy' to pump yourself up," Yugi said almost calmly, "you think it makes you tough but REALLY it's just a sign of how _pathetic _you are, isn't it? You have to call your damned best mate f—ing names just so you can beat him up and hate him more! If he's a fag then you aren't hurting the only damned person you've probably ever cared about! You CHICKEN-SHIT!!"

"C-calm down dude, just calm down," Shogi whimpered.

"I AM CALM, DAMN IT!" Yugi screamed, and as if to prove a point to himself Yugi lunged forward enough that the knife could rip Shogi's jacket open. "For the first time in a LONG time I am calm and clear! I can finally understand why bastards like you exist; we LET you exist. All of us would-be victims LET you live…because we think you might change, that you might care….t-that you might…th-that you m-might"

The tears startled him. Yugi hadn't felt them coming and yet now they bubbled up like mad in his eyes screwing his vision up royally.

Another demanding step forward brought Yugi close enough to rest the blade against Shogi's trembling throat.

"I-If I just…if we all just took down the bastards like you…i-it wouldn't have to hurt all the time. I-If we just …j-just…"

The tension beneath the blade was terrible to contend with and Yugi's inner mind was questioning his trembling hands' ability to keep the knife steady until Yugi was READY to kill Hayashi Shogi.

But just when Yugi was sure the cramping in his fingers would cause the tension to break for certain, a painfully familiar purple haze wrapped around Shogi's body and tugged the assaulter backwards.

"YUGI!" Yami's voice called out.

Yugi's eyes flickered from where he held the knife aligned to Shogi's throat over to the hallway beyond Shogi where Yami was now standing, his hand raised in attack, then back to the throat.

"Stay out of this, _**Atem**_," Yugi spat.

"Yugi, you don't want to-"

"YES I DO!" Yugi screamed so loud his own ears popped, "I WANT THIS ATEM! I WANT HIM DEAD AND I WANT YOU GONE! WHY THE HELL DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO INTERFERE LIKE I CAN'T BE TRUSTED WITH MY OWN GODDAMN CHOICES!!"

"…You are my soul-partner, Yugi," Yami's voice came softly, "of course I will be there to look out for you."

"TO CONTROL ME!" Yugi snapped, "That's all you ever do! You leave me alone until my actions _PISS YOU OFF_ enough that you have to change them! Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, our dealings with Dartz, the media frenzy when you returned and now my own GODDAMN LIFE!! You always have to do things for me!" Yugi trembled, the blade swaying dangerously close to Shogi's fish-belly white skin.

"I-I…I mean to be helpful to you, Yugi," Yami mumbled gruffly.

"Well you aren't, you never help, you always hinder and restrict, so just piss off for five measly minutes so I can slit this shit's jugular! I don't care what you do after that!"

"I can't let you do that, Yugi."

Yugi snorted and rolled his eyes, "why am I not-"

"I can't let you be the murderer, I'll kill Shogi for you," Yami interrupted.

The knife nearly tumbled from Yugi's suddenly slack fingers as his amethyst eyes darted to Yami's.

Those crimson orbs looked back at him with complete conviction.

"You are my light, aibou. And I will not let you tarnish yourself when my perfectly wretched soul is right there to sponge up the mess. I love you too much to see you do that to yourself. So drop that knife and let me be dark for you….like you are light to me."

The knife dropped with a definitely cheery ring against the wood.

"Ya…mi…" Yugi suddenly found himself croaking," Yami…Yami…"

A tightness that had been unnoticed around the ex-pharaoh's eyes slipped away and the teen king smiled weakly.

"I was beginning to think you'd never call me that again."

"O-Oh God, Yami! I-I can't believe that I almost…that you almost…Oh God, drop him! Drop Hayashi right now, Yami!" Yugi sobbed. Yami nodded and complied.

Shogi collapsed to his duff on the stage completely unable to move and Yami marched with purpose up to the stage and pulled his trembling aibou into his arms.

"You didn't do anything wrong, hikari," Yami said sternly into his other-half as he stroked Yugi's back purposefully and reassuringly, "absolutely nothing wrong. You had every right to get mad like you did. It's okay."

"I-I w-was g-going t-to kill S-Shogi as c-cleanly a-as he tried to k-kill Atsushi! OH GOD YAMI WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!"

"Well…you mean besides the entitlement issues, anger management issues and too much exposure to shadow magic?" Yami said amicably.

Yugi shuddered and laughed and looked up at Yami with tear-streaming eyes, "Y-You jerk."

"There now," Yami sighed, brushing the tears off his other-half's face, "you still have enough goodness in you to laugh. I think you'll be just fine."

Behind them the auditorium doors banged open and Joey came rushing in with two haplessly smashed crepes in one hand.

"Y-Yami I-I heard screamin' an'…HOLY HELL WHAT HAPPENED?" the blonde gasped as he took in the scene.

"Joseph, I need you to run to the administrations office and get Councilor Harrison. Tell him to call for an ambulance and for the police," Yami said, easily taking charge of the situation as was his nature to do.

Joey stared wide-eyed at the convulsing club leader for a moment more then nodded and, still holding those mashed crepes, ran out the door at top-speed.

Yami sighed in relief and gently guiding his hikari to sit on one of the band's forgotten drum-cases and told the green-tinged boy to just sit and take deep breathes.

Yami then went over to the man that, just minutes earlier, he had considered his worst enemy.

"Here, you need to put pressure on the wound," Yami said, taking off his coat and pressing it to the redhead's injury.

Mitsuko whimpered miserably but nodded and moved her hands to where Yami led them.

"M-Mits…s-sorry f-for not…not…" Atsushi was mumbled.

"Mamio, just be quiet for a minute! Please just shut up just this once," Mitsuko sobbed openly, her tears adding to the discoloration of Yami's jacket.

Atsushi tried to smile reassuringly but a spasm of agony rolled over his body causing him to twist up in guttural torment.

Yami turned his attention to Watashito and Yaegaki.

"Do you two know if there is any heavy-duty electrical tape stored in this area?" Yami asked.

"I-I think we h-have some s-standard duct tape stored n-next to the poster-board…w-why?" Watashito trembled.

"I want you and Yaegaki to go get it and bind Shogi's hands and feet," Yami said sparing a glance over at the still silent thug. "He's in shock right now but I don't want him waking up out of it and attacking anyone else."

The two freshmen nodded and darted off, leaving Yami with three nameless new recruits, whom he instructed to go out into the hall to make sure that the cops knew which way to come.

All of that settled, Yami returned to his hikari's side just in time to see Yugi coughing up what looked like a puddle of black-blood.

"Yugi! You didn't get cut too, did you?" Yami gasped, grabbing his Yugi's arms and holding them apart so he could scan over Yugi's torso.

"N-No…I-I just think…uhhhn, I think you're right, I have had too m-much exposure to dark things," Yugi mumbled, taking one of his hands back from Yami to wipe off his mouth. He managed to wipe away the tar but he replaced it with some of the residual blood from the knife.

Yami wasn't sure what Yugi was talking about but there were more pressing issues to worry about, so he simply hauled his light back in his arms and tried to will his strength into the trembling teenager's body.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Darrin watched this little drama play out in his mind, through his own connection to the wall-eye, and he sighed heavily.

He had been pretty sure that Yugi wouldn't allow his soul to be exposed to demon claim through his act of instinctive anger. The boy was a great empath, able to infect himself with shadows just because he'd seen another's infections, but he was still way too pure to ever let that infection take hold on its own.

Darrin really admired that quality of Yugi while at the same time worried about it. That child would have so many problems in his lifetime unless he managed to find a balance with someone who could reign in his self-sacrificing ways…

Then again…in this particular group of teenager self-sacrifice seemed to be everyone's problem.

"This certainly is a hell of a case to cut my fangs on," the man sighed to himself, running a hand through his hair.

His appearance had changed some since the starlight bottle his mistress had been using developed a malfunction and the demons had been forced to resort to using his familiar's energy.

Darrin's natural form was not like that of his disguise. Underneath his disguise…he looked like he had when he was a human…and when he'd hated his birth-given situation so much that he'd left a giant entrance-hole in his soul for daemons to enter into.

He was a mutt, an oreo, or whatever else you'd call someone with a half-black heritage. His skin was almost caramel in complexion, except for the great expanses where the skin was scarred and his pigmentation naturally became much darker.

His hair was raven black and, in his natural state, seemed more pronounced about his face like outstretched feathers.

But it was his eyes that Darrin hated, and would not allow to return to their natural shade. While he'd been forced to wear his human eyes while in disguise, the instant Darrin felt the magic wane; he'd switched all his residual disguise energy to one point on his body. His eyes.

Those emerald green pools that he'd inherited from his ass of a father, Darrin had switched to a dazzling red, as brilliant as a rose but twice as thorned.

Darrin didn't figure Ryou would mind. By now, the poor little hikari was so bewitched by him that Darrin could walk around without a face and the boy wouldn't care.

The enslaved demon wasn't sure what he felt about that depth of trickery. Like he'd told his mistress countless times before today he was NOT an incubus by trade. His natural talents laid in debt-collection and contract-making.

If someone wanted to sell their soul for money, Darrin was the darkling to summon, but if someone wanted to cause a righteous man to fall off his path well…Darrin wasn't so good at that.

He had been conscripted to Hell by that particular type of demon and was not going to try and emulate them. In fact, even if he wanted to he probably couldn't.

By demon standards Darrin was far too academic and …well…nerdy. No REAL demon would spend his first decade in Hell cooped up in the Library of Damnation reading about former cases and previous contract exploits.

Cursing for the millionth time his stupidity and overconfidence which had made him lose his personal freedom in Hell, Darrin walked into his bedroom where Ryou lay in his bed.

In the golden glow of the afternoon sun the boy's snowy skin seemed to glitter like the first Christmas snow, which gave Darrin conflicting feelings of both rapture and agony.

He really, REALLY needed to find a master who could use him more properly than Trika.

"Well…I suppose it IS time to start the second-phase, seeing as how the first-phase fell through…I suppose," Darrin argued with himself as he stood over his bed.

On the nightstand beside the bed, almost hidden behind the bottles of water, vials of oil and the remains of the romantic lunch the two had shared just a few hours ago was a small clay jar vaguely shaped like a human.

It was within his jar that Ryou's soul now resided. He was enthralled by Darrin's charm so much that he had lost his hold on his own spirit. That was the danger of pure unwitting love.

A love so strong you'd sell your soul to the Devil to have it was not a good thing, despite what humans in this age seemed to think. There had to be a space within the human heart for God. Just a little sliver for that preternatural sense of higher power and irrational hope.

Without hope, no man could manage to bear the burdens of existence. Without an afterlife waiting for them, there was no reason to follow any of the humane impulses that would put a man's life in any modicum of risk.

Darrin reached out, picked up the clay figurine and tucked it into his aviator jacket pocket, wrapped delicately in his handkerchief. It probably said a little too much about him that when push came to shove he kept some of the trinkets of the age when he was alive about his person.

Next Darrin perched himself on the edge of the bed and shook Ryou's shoulder gently with his now long-nailed hands.

The albino boy groaned miserably but fluttered his eyes open anyway and looked up at the demon.

"D-Darrin…is that you?...You look different," Ryou blinked sleepily.

Unhelpfully Darrin's mind drifted back to that day at the diner, when Ryou showed him empathy for his plight. His sister's death hadn't been a ploy to get closer to the hikari, though it had seemed to help sadly enough.

Darrin couldn't help but think over the gentleness of Ryou's hand on his shoulder, his firmness in his belief that while it felt as if their siblings' death had been directly their fault, it was just cruel Fate dealing them an unexplainable hand.

If Darrin actually WAS attractive to males in more than just a teasing way and if he actually DID hold some naturally inclined attraction to this type of submissive nature…he knew he'd already have screwed up the mission profoundly by falling in love with his target.

As it was Darrin was teetering on the dangerous precipice of LIKING Ryou, which was almost as bad as love.

"Ryou, dearest, this is my natural form. I didn't want to scare you so I hid it until now…you do forgive me for that…don't you?" Darrin crooned, running his claws through Ryou's snowy tresses.

"Mmm, of course," Ryou almost purred, leaning heavily into his hand, "I mean, after all I've seen of Bakura, of course I'd understand you wanting to hide your darker nature. But…I love you…I love all of you, so you don't have to hide anymore, okay?"

How did incubuses put up with this kind of torture? Was there some sort of trick to keeping impassive to such kind and tender words of mercy? Darrin wanted to know! Because right now he really just wanted to scoop this child up in his arms and confess all the many years of sins he had on hand. He wanted to be forgiven, even though he knew that it was not the child's place to forgive him.

(**A/N:** Darrin is not only a demon-nerd; he's also a half-turned it seems! A real demon feels no need to ask for forgiveness. Asking forgiveness would mean that they were wrong, and a true demon does their duty unflinchingly and with pride.)

"I know you love me," Darrin smiled, not able to say those words back, "and I know you'll help me with what I ask you, because you want to stay with me forever, no matter where, don't you?"

"Oh yes," Ryou sighed, reached up and stroking Darrin's own face, "I'll follow you wherever, love. I will follow you into Hell if I have to."

"_Well damn it; that was exactly what I'd hoped he WOULDN'T say. He definitely cannot save himself now," _Darrin thought sourly to himself.

"Okay then. Listen to everything I say and I promise that you can follow me when I leave this place," Darrin smiled falsely. He then leaned down and began to share his master's orders with his beautiful target.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Nizuki had somehow managed to affect the cosmic Powers-That-Be in such a way that Atsushi's ambulance didn't run into a single traffic-jam and that he got into the ICU immediately.

Yugi thought that since he'd managed to keep from killing Shogi and because Atsushi was expected to make a full recovery that the honey-colored angel would be triumphant…but the exact opposite was true.

Nizuki was pacing the waiting-room where the rest of the Karaoke Club (and Yami and Joey besides) waited, as if she were waiting for the guillotine.

No, that wasn't right; it was as if Nizuki were waiting impatiently for the guillotine to be finished so she could go out to it and chop off her own head. This was not really the type of behavior you'd expect from an angel-woman with great pride and sense of purpose.

"Something is not right here; something is really, really not right," Nizuki mumbled to herself as she clipped up and down the waiting room in her high-heeled boots.

Apparently the more uncomfortable the angel was, the more overwhelmingly fashionable she dressed, because right now Nizuki looked like she'd escaped from some Milan floor-show.

Suddenly the doors burst open and Bakura came charging in with Nero.

"B-Bakura, what are you doing here?" Yugi jolted in shock, a surprising reaction in itself seeing as the boy had been in a sort of mindless trance since Yami had stopped his attack.

"I-I heard…phew…I heard there was a knife-fight at Domino High…I got curious about who was in it," Bakura panted, "but I wasn't going to really do more than stay glued to the news channels when this little bugger came charging into the house and demanded I follow him."

"Well, you don't need to worry, tomb-robber," Yami said tersely, "the victim was no one you know."

"Hey! Listen here, you condescending prick-" Bakura started to snarl.

"Shut up," Nizuki glowered at both dark-spirits, "we have more important things to be thinking of then meaningless ancient grudges."

"MEANINGLESS!!" Yami gasped in horror.

Nizuki looked at the curious spectators and cast as spell of silence over them then charged to Yami's side and in her sternest voice snarled; "yes meaningless. Bakura's feud with you is like the many other stupid wars you humans have waged over the years. You did something to him, he did something to you, no forgiveness was dealt out and no remunerations were suggested. The only difference in your fight was that you happened to find and use bigger weapons than most armies and you caused a lot more residual damage."

"How…how would you…how did you-" Yami chocked.

"Oh please, pharaoh. Haven't you figured out YET that she's not human," Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Not…human?" Yami stared in shock.

"Yugi-sama! You are safe!" Nero wailed, lunging himself bodily into Yugi's midriff, causing the chair the boy was sitting in to topple over.

"Whoa! Nero! Whoa! Of course, I'm alright. Yami came and helped us in the auditorium almost as soon as Shogi started acting weird," Yugi almost laughed.

"No! No! I not mean, 'safe', like that! You not let demon-mark foul your soul! You stayed strong and virtuous! You not need feel guilt!" Nero sniffled.

Yugi's face immediately went pale again and he turned away from the cherub. "I wouldn't say I'm completely scot-free…I probably do deserve some sort of punishment."

"Oh Yugi-sama!" Nero wailed.

"I always figured you'd be like this," Nizuki sighed, flicking her hair in an irritated manner over her shoulder,"you straddle the line between being able to handle yourself and having too little survival skills. I should have done more for you."

"Now who sounds like she's suffering too much guilt?" Yugi joked humorlessly.

The angel just stared at him straight-on, reminding him that even though Nizuki and Nero had human like personalities and interacted with them in a human like manner, their minds worked on a whole different level than his.

"Nero need to work harder too. You need major fixing to keep you super happy," Nero frowned seriously as well. Unfortunately for the cherub the expression just didn't suit his face.

"All right, I get it, I'm not finished yet; you guys work me over and I'll do my best," Yugi chuckled, ruffling Nero's hair as he lifted his chair back up and sat down again.

"…'M lost here…what are ya all talkin' about?" Joey stared wide-eyed.

"I-" Nizuki flushed.

"They are talking about the fact that they are angels, sent here to grant happiness to both Yugi and I," another voice suddenly spoke out.

Nizuki's whole body seemed to lose its color, from her hair to her clothing and she whirled around in a panic.

"R-Ryou? Ry-Ry honey, w-why are you-"

"Around three or four months ago, Nero leapt from Heaven out of misery at the fact he wasn't a guardian angel. Yugi found him in his attic and tended his wounds, leading the cherub's current situation. He cannot return to Heaven until Yugi's immortal wish, his soul's necessity, is granted. Around the same time Nizuki was assigned to me in Heaven and before she arrived at my house, knocking my yami out during her entrance even, she tracked Nero down and offered her own services in helping Nero grant that wish.

What Nizuki was ordered to do for me is about the same as what she is doing for Yugi…except in my case 'safety' was just a big concern as 'happiness.'

Since that time Yugi and I have been faced with demonic threats and cheesy rather unimaginative training for becoming stronger individuals, until we come to this moment in time where I'm telling you all this information against Heavenly Statutes… because honestly I don't give a damn about Nizuki's methods anymore," the white-haired hikari continued with unrelenting honest.

Nizuki's form continued to pale until she looked almost completely see-through and her wings erupted from her back.

The Karaoke Club gasped and started to get out of their chairs when a black-purple mist rolled over them, locking them in place.

"Don't get up, I don't want to make a bigger mess than I have to," Darrin said, strolling into the room as casual as anything. He locked eyes with Nizuki and with an apologetic grin said, "Sounds like your protectorate just broke a second of your rules, right after shaking up with a demon. I think that means you have to leave."

Nero gaped and stared at the fading higher-angel and then at the demon. He darted forward and grabbed Nizuki's sunlight bottle. He threw it to the carpet and stomped his foot against the glass until it shattered.

A burst of light escaped the glass, exploding through the room, causing the dark-energy users present to stagger back in slight pain.

Darrin managed to stand his ground, though the left-side of body was now covered in raw looking blisters and a previously unnoticed horn in his hair cracked off and fell to the floor.

Nizuki's color came flooding back to her in a rush and she collapsed to her knees on the waiting-room floor.

"Now she not have to go nowhere. Without the sunlight bottle she the same as you and your partner, floating apparitions, or immortals waiting for reissued license! That is section nineteen, paragraph two, items one through twenty!" Nero explained without hesitation. The cherub then blink in surprise and cupped his mouth. "I…I actually remember all that?"

"Phew…oh silver clouds on a moonless night on All Hallow's Eve! Good work, Nero," Nizuki wheezed, massaging her fluffed up wings as if try to reassure herself they were still attached.

"Hmmm…can't say I was too surprised by that," Darrin winced, rubbing his sore face. Ryou was immediately on his arm, crooning out gentle words of worry.

"H-HIKARI WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? GET AWAY FROM THAT MONSTER!!" Bakura howled in shock.

"YOU'RE the monster! At least Darrin can't help what he is! This is his job! And even with such a job he's made a promise to me to let me stay by his side!" Ryou snarled back with venom.

Bakura took a step backwards in shock and croaked.

"Wait, wait, wait! What da hell does he mean 'stay by ya side?' Zubarro or whatever ya real name is, Ryou would have ta go ta HELL to stay wit-" Joey started to speak out.

"That's exactly the point, _chucho_," another voice giggled.

Much more dramatically that her partner, who'd simply walked through the door at the right time, Trika exploded onto the scene through the tiles, showering the still frozen club members with dust and grout.

"WHA-! THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!!" Joey yelled scrambling back behind Yami. Hey, he knew when he was out of his league.

"You're the succubus from the park," Nizuki growled threateningly, her shoulders hunched and her wings wide. In the twinkling of an eye Nizuki dissolved her and Nero's clothing and replaced them with heavenly armor.

Trika didn't seem impressed. She simply walked over to where a frozen patient sat, his arm slashed to bits. Trika ran her hand over the man's forehead causing him to pulse black and red.

"Ooooh! He's one of ours! Yummy! Those teenagers weren't NEARLY as filling as I'd hoped!" the short caramel-skinned demoness squealed with undignified joy before let out her blue-ripped fangs.

Darrin coughed into his fist and shook his head.

"Oh phooey, you're no fun at all, _mi caliente eslavo,"_ Trika pouted, balling her hands up against her hips.

Pretty much the opposite of Nizuki, this creature seemed to dress in high-fashion when she was relaxed, meaning right now the very triumphant looking succubus was parading through the E.R. in a goth-loli dress that even the most radical of Harajuku Goths would envy.

The slashed translucent black sleeves looked particularly intense with the demon's energy-pulsing skin underneath. And Trika's boots made Nizuki's look like house-slippers.

"What do you two want? Obviously you've…you've gotten hold of my protectorate," Nizuki trembled in both anger and sorrow, "what else could you possibly want?"

"Well…simple put…more," Trika shrugged.

The Latina demoness skipped happily over to a chair in which sat a very handsome young man and with the slightest of gestures Trika flopped seductively across the man's lap.

"You see, when I was still a little mortal, I didn't have anything at all. My _madre_ was a simple cleaning-lady and my _papi_ was never around. I managed to survive for a while. I made friends with the rich _chicas_ in my school and in their..." Trika sneered, "boundless generosity, they gave me all the necessities. I got clothing, books, even a television because honestly, what kind of teenager doesn't need a steady stream _telenovela?_ But as I entered high-school I started to see that…well…it just wasn't enough. All my…companions…began to get these beautiful rich boyfriends while I was stuck with whatever penniless brainless sap that couldn't make it any higher than me. So…then one night a beautiful mister approached me and offered me everything I could ever desire…so long as I killed every single of one those bitches. And I did…I invited them all to a _fiesta del pajama…_and slipped a little rat-poison in their colas. The same type of logic applies here. I want more standing in Hell, I want more benefits of the immortals, so in order to do that-"

"You're going to try and take more than just Ryou's soul with you back to the Flames," Nizuki finished.

"Oooh you ARE a bright one, aren't you," Trika giggled without humor. She continued to glower down at Nizuki for awhile then her nostrils twitched and she turned her head over to Bakura.

"…_Querida…_do we know this one?" Trika asked her partner.

"The white-haired darker youth is the one we poisoned with seed so that we could get to Ryou," Darrin explained, "and you remember it took a lot of seed and a lot of fermentation-time to get him to actually attack…it was almost impossible to break these two mortal's bonds."

Nizuki, who had been thinking of whipping out her sword, lack of sunlight or no lack of sunlight, paused when she heard that and whipped her head around to look at the male demon.

She knew for a fact that the demon was saying way too much about Bakura for it to just be casual answer. It was like…he was trying to say something without Trika understand it as well.

"No, no I know that, after all I'm the one that made you collect your seed," Trika blinked.

Bakura turned positively green and Nero had to hold him upright.

"There is something else about him…something not related to Ryou…something infinitely darker…AHHHHH!!" Trika suddenly smiled in ecstasy. "NOW I think I know you-"

"Can we cut this 'meet and greet the meat' crap and get to why you are here?" Yugi snapped suddenly.

Trika's eyes flashed red and she hissed at the hikari. "You are really getting on my nerves, little light! I tried to get your soul TWICE already and both times my plans have fallen through."

"Technically, you could say we were after him four-times, what with the suicide bug and that step we took a year or so beforehand, but yes I'll agree he is rather infuriating," Darrin spoke up again in that manner that nearly caused Nizuki's hand to go to her ear-cuff. She wanted to figure out that demon!

"You want it straight, well fine, I'll give it to you straight," Trika snapped, leaping up from the man's lap and charging over to Yugi until they were nose-to-nose. "I want your soul as well as Nero's and if I can grab anyone else's soul I'll be glad of it."

"We aren't handing them over," Yugi frowned back, not even recognizing Yami's hand on his bicep. "So I guess you'll just have to leave."

"With Ryoooou?" Trika purred.

"NO!!" Bakura screamed in time with Yugi.

"No! You are NOT taking my host! I don't care WHAT kind of rules he's broken, it's not his fault! You…you dick-whipped him to your will, you bastard! And he's not responsible for his actions!" Bakura glared directly at Darrin.

Ryou glared back at him and hugged Darrin tighter.

"Mistress, as much as I'd love to just stand around talking, this time-pause is putting my powers under an unhelpful modicum of stress. Tell them what you want so we can leave here," Darrin rolled his eyes casually.

"_Fuera cual fuera_!" Trika sighed dismissively, "Alright here it is. I will be willing to give your Ryou back-"

Bakura started to sag in relief.

"If you manage to win a little game against me," Trika finished.

"What manner of game do you suggest? Chess perhaps?" Yami snorted condescendingly as he took the forefront.

"Well as classic as that approach would be," Trika smiled good-humoredly, "that will not give me the fame I wish for. No, you see, for REAL fame I have to beat the King of Games and his little friends in a true challenge of their skills…a shadow game."

"SHADOW GAMES ARE NEITHER ANGELIC NOR DEMONIC IN NATURE! HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST THAT AS A CHALLENGE!!!" Nizuki roared.

"Oh what's the matter, _gregoria?"_ Trika taunted, "Are you upset because you cannot interrupt a shadow game with your powers like you would a simple dark game?"

Nizuki spluttered and trembled, her wings seemingly to lose all their light. Nero went from Bakura's side over to Nizuki's.

"Is okay, Nizuki-onee. We will still find a way to help. We are angels, there is no place out of our reach, so long as we know who and what we are," Nero soothed.

"No…I can't mess with shadows…you know I can't. I can't even stand to hang around these two," Nizuki thumbed at the two spirits, "very long before I start molting."

"We will figure something out," Nero promised.

"What do you get out of this deal?" Yami asked suspiciously. "What do you get out of this should you win?"

"Well…while what I REALLY want is all of you…I suppose I can settle for Yugi. Wagering a light against a light seems terribly fair…Ugh…more fair than I want," Trika shuddered.

"I accept," Yugi glowered.

"Yugi! Don't just-" Yami gasped.

"_Marvillosa!"_ Trika squealed. She reached out and grabbed Yugi's forearm.

"Hey! Hey! Not so fast! How do we know ya won't just take Yug' an' run?" Joey snorted.

"Haven't you been paying attention? They CAN'T just TAKE his soul; the souls have to be won or taken over! That's the whole reason Ryou was forced to tell us that Nizuki and Nero are angels, for sinning and collecting his soul," Bakura rolled his eyes.

"HEY! Mister Superiority! If ya haven't noticed it's YER fault that Ryou 's in their hands in tha first place! So just shut up!" Joey yelled.

"ENOUGH!!" Yami hollered, instantly ushering in a moment of silence. He walked over to Trika and peeled her fingers off of Yugi's arm.

"Yugi will come with us. He is not yours unless we lose," Yami frowned.

"But that's not-" Trika began to whine.

"In return we will hold onto Ryou," Darrin stepped in. "You will know where the place is by spell, it will come to you in your dreams, so pay attention. It will take us about a day to finish setting up the battle-field. Shadows are not our forte so we have to go slow. Also, only you who are here are allowed to fight FOR Ryou, but there are some of you who will fight on our side AGAINST Yugi."

"Who exactly?" Yami frowned.

"Only those we've already had control of. Such as Shogi…and our other agents," Darrin smiled darkly.

Nizuki's ear was really itching now.

"That is fair. Alright then we will fight tomorrow," Yami nodded.

"Splendid," Darrin smiled. He peeled Ryou off of his arm and nudged the boy forward towards his friends, "you'll want to say good-bye to your friends, Ryou dear. You might not get much of a chance tomorrow."

Bakura charged over to his hikari the moment the boy was out of the demon's grasp and he pulled him into a one-sided embrace.

"This is all my fault! Damn it! Damn! I'm so sorry I caused you to lose your innocence like this!"

"LET GO YOU MORON! YOU'RE CRUSHING ME!!" Ryou wailed.

Bakura winced at the tone and stepped back. Ryou glowered and him and sniffed contemptuously then he turned towards Nizuki with what looked like an actual smile on his lips.

"Hey, tenshi-chan. If you can't figure out a way to fight by tomorrow, don't worry about it. You're job is pretty much over anyway since I'm happy with Darrin. I know you'll pout about it and say that I should be happy with some human guy but honestly, after all the crap I've been through it makes sense I'm with Darrin, doesn't it? So don't beat yourself up over this if you can't fight."

Nizuki didn't even look at Ryou; she simply looked over at Darrin and said coldly, "I have nothing to say to a shell. You should have given him his soul back."

"It's my soul now though, that's the whole point," Darrin shrugged, flashing the little clay jar at the group.

"AIE!! DON'T WAVE THAT THING AROUND!!!" Trika squealed.

"Why not? It's not like they can take it from me without a fight," Darrin shrugged.

"Ugh! _Estupido!_ Trika smacked her forehead.

Darrin just chuckled at her and reclaimed Ryou, folding the boy up in his muscular arms as one might hold a particularly fine porcelain doll.

"Please get a good-night's rest. I really want to see what the King of Games is capable of," he said as way of parting. He then bowed and left out the front door.

"I'll have your collar ready, little light," Trika smirked in Yugi's direction. As dramatically as she came, Trika left in a plum of smoke, leaving a pile of vipers behind.

Time restarted itself and people started yelling.

Yugi-tachi just stared out the door where there pale friend had willingly left.

"We…will have to really work hard on this one," Nizuki seemed to sum up, as she crossed her arms over the fashionable leather trench-coat she made to replace her armor.

Nero whimpered miserably and hugged Yugi, burrowing his face into the boy's shirt before he let his tears come.

And for once Yami let him do it without jealousy.

**ENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTER**

**Nizuki:** AHHHHH! I MESSED UP! I'M RUINED!! ALL THAT HARD WORK GONE WITH A SINGLE EXPLANATION!! HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED!!!

**Bakura: **AAAAHHH! I'M GONNA LOSE RYOU! JUST WHEN I ADMITTED TO MYSELF AND TO PHARAOH'S BRAT THAT I CARED ABOUT HIM I'M GONNA LOSE HIM!! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!!!!

**Yugi: **TRIPLE AAAAHHH!! I'M PART OF SOME STUPID BET BETWEEN US AND THE DEMONS! I'M GONNA LOSE MY SOUL! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!!!

**Joey: **AAAAAH! I'M GONNA LOSE MY BEST-FRIEND OVER SOME FREAKY FIGHT WIT' SUPER FREAKY SUPERNATURAL CREATURES BEFORE I'VE HAD THE CHANCE TO APOLOGIZE TO HIM FOR ALL MY STUPID HANG-UPS!! I'M NEVER GONNA BE ABLE TO SLEEP WIT' THE LIGHTS OFF AFTER THIS!! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!!!

**Yami: **AAAAH! I MADE A DEAL FOR MY AIBOU'S LIFE AGAINST DEMONS!! I'VE GOTTA BE MORE STRATEGY THAN I'VE EVER BEEN BEFORE AND I'M PROBABLY GOING TO HAVE TO DO IT ALL WITHOUT MY HIKARI SINCE HE'S THE BET! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!!!

**Ryou:** …I think I'm still pretty happy

**Darrin: -looking around the author's mind-space until he hears Ryou's voice-** Ryou, you don't know WHAT you are anymore.

**All those who are screaming: -turn to Masaka in rage- **HOW DO YOU PLAN TO GET US OUT OF THIS MESS?

**Masaka: -snacking on Tie-dyed Tricksters cookies she wasn't able to eat during midterm's week- **Que sera, sera.

**All those who are still screaming: **NO 'QUE SERA SERA' YOU HAVE TO FIX THIS!

**Nero: -backpack slung over his shoulders- **Does anybody have room for me to stay until this is all over?

**Trika: ** MUWAHAHAHAHAHA! I got into Masaka's author's notes!! Finally

**Yami Masaka: -using Masaka's shoe and muse-mallet to smack the succubus back to pure imagination- **Nu-uh! We've already filled our evil beast quotient with Masaka's uber perfectionist-side AKA the caged-beast! There is NO ROOM for another demon!!


	35. I'M NOT DEAD

**Masaka: **And a-one, a-two, a-one two three…

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Nero had a little bit of trouble getting Nizuki settled after the demons left. Not only had their presence triggered every fire-happy impulse in the strawberry blonde's soul but she was also simply too worried about what would happen next to realize that Yugi didn't need another babysitter.

"B-But Nero, who knows what those stupid demons will try? I mean that Succubus, Trika, didn't seem all that reliable. What if she tries to attack in the middle of the night anyway and-" Nizuki started to babble.

"Yugi has Yami-san, Joey and Nero looking after him. We won't let any sneak-attacks through," the cherub answered calmly. "What Nizuki-nee needs to do now is stay with Bakura-san. If anyone needs looking after it is him."

Behind the angelic duo the ex-thief gagged in insult and Yami snickered unhelpfully under his breath.

"But I don't WANT to stay with Baku-chan. He's too stubborn and-" Nizuki started to rattle off once again.

"Nizuki-nee is good with stubborn. And Bakura does need Nizuki's special kind of help. Please onee-chan, trust me on this."

Nizuki pouted mightily, her arms drawn tensely across her chest. She continued to fume for a long moment then let off an explosive sigh and nodded.

"Yes, you're right. I'll go with him. COME ON BAKU-BOKU! WE'RE LEAVING!!"

"DON'T!" Bakura railed as Yami burst into full-out laughter, "CALL ME BAKU-BOKU!!"

"Bakura-boku then, come on let's get back to the house," Nizuki shrugged casually. Bakura grumbled angrily under his breath for a moment longer than shoved his gas-station hat on his head and followed after the exiting honey angel.

Nero watched them leave the E.R. then sighed in relief and turned back to his own group.

Yugi was still trying to explain/lie his bum off about what had happened to the flooring and why there were vipers crawling all over the place so Nero decided to just focus on the ex-pharaoh.

"You gots nothin' to say about me?" Nero asked almost tauntingly.

"No," Yami snarled down at the cherub. "Except that, even if you are an angel, I still don't like you."

"Hm, that not surprise me," Nero sighed, digging his pinky in his ear as if to dig out the annoying words.

"WHY YOU-!" Yami snarled. Luckily before he could do anything more Yugi finished explaining to his group as well as saying good-night and he came back to the threesome.

"Well, everything should be squared away for a while. Let's get home, I really desperately need a shower and a fresh set of clothes," Yugi sighed.

Yami broke his hate-glare from the angel long enough to look at Yugi. He noticed that the blood spatter on Yugi's uniform was actually a lot worse than he'd first presumed. With the addition of airborne concrete powder added to the mix, patches of Yugi's shirt, skin and hair were matted with sticky clumps.

The sight instantly hammered the severity of the situation back into Yami's mind and helped him to break from his feud with the angel.

"Ah yes…very well…let's go home," Yami flushed.

"'M stayin' over too!" Joey yelped, jumping up when he noticed the two tri-colored haired boys were leaving without him…again.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Bakura had left the living-room door open in his rush to follow Nero to Domino General Hospital.

With the door so hanging, along with the uneaten snack left on the coffee-table, the jacket thrown over the couch-back and the television still flickering away it looked as if the place had been robbed and the owner shot down mid-heist.

It certainly didn't help either hot-blooded specter calm down.

Honestly without Ryou there, the Bakura household seemed very claustrophobic. Everywhere you went the place just seemed packed with bad memories and glum feelings.

Bakura shook of the sense of foreboding easier than his angelic companion and he stomped into the living-room and collapsed onto the couch.

Nizuki watched the white-haired spirit sprawled out there for a moment then walked inside herself and closed the door gently behind her.

She didn't know what to do now. While it was true she'd held her own against demons and darklings before, she'd never had to worry about elaborate set-ups like shadow-games. It had always just been a straight out battle of wills before. She preferred it like that.

Too ill at ease to sit down Nizuki just sort of hovered in the entrance-hall, snapping and folding her wings as she watched Bakura dig through his Kelico Gas jump-suit for his cigarettes. Once he had the much squashed packet in his hands he looked around for his lighter.

"_**Sparks of Eternity, Fire of Purity, I who am a servant to the Unburning Flames bid you come to my call,"**_ Nizuki chanted gently, holding out her cupped hand. In a flicker of golden-sparkles a white flame snapped to life in her palm.

Bakura looked at her curiously but at her wane smile simply put his cigarette end down into the flames then pulled it back out and took a deep drag. He continued to watch as Nizuki squeezed her palm shut and the flames sputtered out.

"Should you be doing that…considering your power-source or whatever is gone?" the spirit asked after an almost too long silence.

"The Heavenly Father is my power-source, Baku-boku," Nizuki smiled almost wickedly; "the sunlight bottle just let me do things with a little more panache."

"Hmm, well you certainly did that well enough," Bakura said blandly before turning back to the television.

The smile slid off Nizuki's lips like so much water and the angel flittered up to perch herself on the back of the couch. Unlike before her body was reduced to mostly light and air so the cushions didn't indent.

"…Ryou…Ryou was probably turned against you…by that incubus. I mean, he…he doesn't hate you," Nizuki said hesitantly.

She knew for somewhere inside her core that Bakura was worrying about Ryou. She also knew that wherever Ryou's soul currently was, it was not brooding in hatred. Ryou was pretty much unable to dislike anyone other than himself.

"It's alright," Bakura chuckled, "I don't blame the kid for snarling at me like that. I mean, to look at it from his point-of-view, I probably was acting weird. Hanging all over him in concern like that. I've never given a damn about him before…so what was I doing acting all weird like that when Ryou was finally happy?"

"He's not happy, Bakura," Nizuki sighed into her knees which were tucked up against her chest. "Ryou cannot feel true contentment in his bond with that demon. He cannot feel true love, for true love is something Heaven-born not of Hell or even Earth."

Bakura didn't respond, only continued to pull on his cigarette and stare blankly at the television. The news had gone from reporting the stabbing at Domino High to talking about a legislation going through the district's legislature about the locking the school-buildings sooner after class. Nizuki's slighter empathy picked up a sense of bemusement from Bakura. Apparently the ex-spirit thought it was funny how the news could go on so casually when in his own personal life such insanity as demonic challenges were going on.

"You will…fight for Ryou tomorrow…won't you?" Nizuki blinked.

"What the hell are you babbling about bird-woman?" Bakura snarled, whirling around in a huff to stare at the stone-still angel. "Of course I'm going to fight those demons! Shit, is that what you think of me? You really think I'd just abandon my other-half to those _creatures_ because he happened to yell at me?"

"I don't know what to think of you, Bakura," Nizuki smiled apologetically. "Whenever I'm around you I get into such a heated state that I can barely think…and when I do stop and think…everything in my head goes white, as if some censor-block came down from Heaven to keep me at odds with you."

"Well you're pretty much a mystery to me too, bird-woman, but I STILL know better than to think you won't be there tomorrow trying to fight along with the rest of us even though Nero and that demonic cheerleader have hinted at the idea that you can't stand shadows."

"It isn't an idea, it's a fact," Nizuki glowered at the distant wall. "It's a defect I developed when I was given new wings. Every time I'm exposed to shadow-magic I seize up. I've only managed to hang around so long because my ear-cuff has a special sort of buffering quality to it. Without it I'd probably have to turn into something smaller to handle shadows…like a butterfly or a gnat."

"…That bad, eh?" Bakura stared in surprise.

"Yes," Nizuki chuckled in self-derision, "that bad."

"…How'd it happen anyway? That you lost your wings, I mean? You biff it on a tree like the one-wing wonder?" Bakura asked, taking a long pull from the cigarette and blowing the smoke out his nose.

Nizuki raised up her fingers to trail through the haze, not coughing because carcinogens only worked on a mortal body.

"I…only remember a few vague details about that case. I remember pain, and a million hungry mouths tearing at me from a dark chasm…and I remember…a name…Torrance Tygris."

Bakura's eyes flickered with some emotion Nizuki couldn't pick up and he leaned forward, stubbing his cigarette out on his ID badge. The white-haired male then got to his feet and headed towards the stairs.

"Hey! Wait! What are you-" Nizuki jolted in surprise. Bakura only smirked calmly over his shoulder and snorted.

"You really are pretty annoying, angel. But for some reason or other I can actually see why the lights like you so much. You don't hedge any subject, blasting through it with enough vigor to make give a martyr pause."

"…Thank you?" Nizuki blinked slowly.

"I'm going to bed now so that I'll be ready for whatever tomorrow brings. You can …pray…for our victory, or whatever it is you angels do," Bakura said a little less comfortably.

"I…of course," Nizuki nodded. Bakura took another step towards the stairs then paused for a moment, as if internal debating with himself.

"Hey bird-woman."

"What?" Nizuki groaned, feeling a little of her old flame come back at the constant use of that term.

"I…that is…" Bakura's shoulders slumped, "thank you…for saying that stuff back at the hospital. About how…it wasn't my fault for falling to Zorc…not many people who know about that think I have any good in me."

"I've noticed humans are limited in what they accept as true good and true evil. Don't you even worry about that kind of stuff, okay?" Nizuki smiled warmly.

Bakura twitched as if there was something else on his mind, but then he just shrugged and left the room entirely.

Nizuki watched the yami retreat quietly and then let a soft motherly smile fall over her face.

"Nero, you are truly amazing. How could you have known I needed a moment along to remember how to look after a watched like Bakura?"

Somewhere along the lines, between the insane chases and teasing adventures that little angel-in-training had picked up a great deal of maturity.

Nizuki knew that with only a little more prodding the angel would be ready for the Official Guardianship Exam, no problem.

That is…if this demon didn't ruin Nero's first unofficial case first.

"I pray…that what I want to happen…is also what He plans to happen," Nizuki sighed to herself. She then closed her eyes and went into meditation.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Joey deciding to spend the night at the Game Shop was usually a happy occasion. After all, despite the strain between the two lately Yugi and Joey were best friends and they'd come up with any excuse to stay up until midnight goofing-off like best friends are supposed to do.

But tonight there would be no video games, no board games, no dares, no arm-wrestling, no late-night snack runs, and no Let's-See-Who-Blushes-First video face-offs.

Tonight was a solemn night. The night before a great battle whose consequences could spell the end for one of them.

"…I guess it sorta all makes sense now," Joey said as he threw off his jacket and plopped down on the futon set up for him in Yami's room.

Nero had a similar situation going on in Yugi's room; Yami didn't get a say in the arrangements.

"What 'sorta all makes sense now'?" Yami asked plainly. He was handling this threat pretty well but Joey could tell by the thin film of sweat on the ex-pharaoh's skin that he was dying for some relief from the stress.

Joey wouldn't be surprised if some time during the night Yami snuck out of his bed to go and just stand watch over sleeping Yugi for a while. Honestly, as great a duelist as the man was, when it came to certain things Yami was more than transparent.

"Well…whole bunches a little things. Like why Yugi suddenly got himself a boyfriend and joined a club and why you…eh-hmm," Joey coughed and blushed, "why you can't control your temper sometimes."

"So you're saying that angels have caused me to be short-tempered?" Yami chuckled.

"Well…you know…ying an' yang. Nero is light you are dark. It don't always turn out nice when opposite meets. Sometimes opposites just beat the shit outta each other," Joey shrugged.

"I think it's a little more complicated than that Joey," Yami rolled his eyes as he got into bed.

His left palm was itching to go through his dueling deck. Somehow he doubted this demon match would be decided by a duel, but even so he'd be more comfortable knowing his monsters were prepared for battle.

Unable to resist Yami pulled his deck out of his nightstand. The God Cards hadn't caused much trouble since he'd claimed sovereignty over all three of them, but even so just the sight of them made Yami feel a little less overpowered.

"It kinda figures that an angel would fall for Yug'. I mean, you gimme a list of the ten people who'll get ta go through the express-line at the Pearly Gates and I guarantee Yugi's name is gonna be on there," Joey snickered.

"Yes, Yugi is very kind," Yami smiled softly, he then frowned seriously, "which is why we HAVE to win tomorrow. Yugi…Yugi cannot handle such unholy flames as the ones those creatures pour out."

"Neither can Ryou," Joey frowned. "Poor Ry…gettin' his cherry popped by a demon has got ta be one of those things that, without a doubt, messes you up for life."

"Ryou certainly didn't seem distraught," Yami snorted. "In fact he seemed more than happy to do as that Zubarro character asked."

"Well yah, but that's gotta be the incubus's charm right? Love is blind and all that," Joey stated firmly. "Cuz I know Ryou, and that empty-eyed little Kewpie Doll back at the hospital was NOT Ryou."

"Everyone keeps saying that but I don't see the reasoning behind it," Yami snarled. "According to Nizuki, Ryou broke such sacred trust by telling us Nizuki was an angel, so it only makes sense that his source of angelic aide should be cut off. And as for getting his soul taken away by Darrin, well that's his own fault too."

"Shit, Yami that's a little cruel of ya," Joey jolted.

"It's not cruel, it's the truth," Yami snorted.

"Ryou ONLY sought out a demon's affection because he couldn't get any from Bakura! I'd have done the exact same thing if you acted like you hated me!" Yugi screamed as he suddenly burst into the room.

Joey and Yami jolted in slight shock at having been spied on but Yami recovered surprisingly quickly and turned all his unused aggression on his other-half.

"I hardly see you doing something so stupid Yugi. You're a lot stronger than Ryou and-"

"Everyone says that. Everyone has been telling me that I'm strong, strong against heartbreak, against shadows, even strong enough to resist temptation. But I'll tell you something, I am not anywhere near as strong as Ryou! Ryou is twice the man I am! He was beaten by his yami but never turned the spirit out for fear of Bakura's well-being in a new century! No one is that kind! And Ryou was able to stand losing a sister, a mother and being disconnected from his father, I've only lost half that much and I nearly killed myself! So don't you EVER suggest that this is Ryou's fault, ever again! I bet you wouldn't have stood any longer than Ryou if your situations were reversed and a succubus had come after you instead," Yugi preached passionately.

When he was finished Joey half wanted to applaud, but as he looked between the battle auras raging around his friends he figured it would be best if he just sat this one out.

"I think if a succubus had come after me I'd have seen it coming and avoided it," Yami snorted arrogantly.

"I'm not so sure," Yugi glowered heavily at his other..

An evil silence filled with too many unstable things descended upon the bedroom. Yami was convinced of his statement –as he usually was- and Yugi was infuriated and just as convinced.

Beyond anxious to break up this tension and return things back to normal –as normal as things got around Domino- Joey loudly cleared his throat and searched for something to say. That was when he noticed something definitely different about his short pal.

"Yug' whaddya do to your hair?" Joey stared in shock.

"Oh um," Yugi flushed jolting instantly out of his rage and reaching out a hand to his now shortened and nearly purple outlined hair. "I-I was trying to shower off all that debris and blood and…well…"

"I cut it!" Nero chirped, popping up in the doorway. "Yugi-sama said he want to make a statement about how he felt. Said he wanted to show world his grief for Atsushi's injuries and …his temper. I think it turn out really great!"

The reminder of today's traumas acted like a bucket of ice water on both boy's tempers and any lingering feelings Yugi and Yami held washed instantly away.

'_Thank God for heavenly interventions,' _Joey heaved a silent sigh. He then threw himself back into the current and much less deadly conversation.

"Ain't that a little extreme Yug'? I mean, ya told me yourself you've never cut your hair cuz you were afraid it'd curl up all weird."

"I know I said that but…well I just…I had to do something…I just…it was getting to be too much," Yugi blushed prettily.

Without his usual two extra feet of hair Yugi appeared a lot smaller than before, more like a regular teenager with a simple flair for punk, rather than a teenage protégé wearing a built-in crown of victory. The overall effect was just so…Yugi.

Yami slipped out of his bed and walked over to his aibou's side and gently ran his hand through the short bristles. Yugi flushed more darkly and shivered.

"It suits you," the ex-pharaoh smiled gently. He then dropped his hand and looked Yugi directly in the eyes, "but you know there must have been a thousand other things you could have done to release your anxieties. Why this?"

"I-I just told you-" Yugi floundered.

"No, Nero told us what he thinks it means. What did you mean by this?" Yami asked firmly.

"I…I…wanted to look…totally like myself…tomorrow. I mean…i-if…if we do…l-lose…then I want to go out not as the Prince of Games but as my own person. I'm sick to death of fighting for that stupid title," Yugi frowned.

"Can't blame you there," Joey snickered, flopping down on his futon and folding his arms behind his head. "But ya shouldn't be worrying over losing. Yami ain't lost an important battle YET!"

Yami looked at Joey in amused surprise then turned back to Yugi. "I just hope you don't regret it."

Yugi stared into Yami's eyes, seeing the other meaning behind that simple inquiry. "I never regret anything I do."

Just like at the park that warm sensation was working itself up in Yami's stomach, making him think of just how much he wanted to take Yugi's lips as his own and kiss away all the boy's pain. Only this time the urge wasn't so surprising nor was it so brutal.

Actually it felt like the most natural thing in the world, which worried the ex-pharaoh a little.

Could it be…that all this time…what he'd really thought of as 'love' was nothing more than…

"Good night Yami," Yugi smiled at him. The hikari then took Nero's hand in his and headed back towards his bedroom.

Yami choked at the sudden departure and leaned heavily on the doorframe unable to move until he saw Yugi and his cherub safely entered the other room and lock the door behind them.

"Joey…" Yami rasped, "do you think…I could be making a big mistake, treating Yugi the way I do and not the way… I seem to want to."

Joey just rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at the ex-pharaoh's head. Trust Yami to be having emotional epiphanies this late in the game.

"I think it won't matter WHAT ya think of Yug' if ya don't shut up and get some rest. Things will work themselves out tomorrow. Ya know shadow-games are always good for clearin' up the illusions in your head-"

"-And nothing else," the two boys finished as one. Yami smiled in gratitude and went back to his bed.

"Don't worry about it. Sure that Trika-chick come from an impressive team, but she's still just another bad-guy and we always kick bad-guy butt!" the blonde said as a final thought before drifting off to sleep.

"…Just another bad-guy," Yami repeated to himself as he stared up at the ceiling. Somehow he didn't think it was going to be as simple as that.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND**

**Masaka:** That was awkward, but I had to put certain things in everyone's mind before the game started. I also had to have Bakura and Nizuki get closer together

**Bakura**: Hmmph! I STILL think she's a damn annoying bird-woman!!

**Yami Masaka: -smirking knowingly-** Is that so?

**Bakura: -worried glance at the dark authoress-** W-what's with that look?

**Yami Masaka:** I don't think you hate Nizuki at alllll! I think you actually liiiike her! I think you like her like a big siiiiiister!

**Bakura: -slowly turning pink-** I do not. She's just…helpful…in…looking after Ryou and…stuff

**Yami Masaka: -clasping hands together dramatically and fluttering her eyelashes-** I think you love it that you now have someone you can trust to knock you out of your dark moods, and who you can entrust all your worries to without ever having to fear betrayal

**Bakura: -full-fledged pink-** I DON'T THINK OF HER LIKE THAT! I DON'T HAVE ANY NEED OF SOMEONE LIKE THAT! I AM A SELF-CONTAINED MAN COMPLETELY AT PEACE WITH MYSELF WITHOUT ANY NEED OF A STUPID COFIDANTE!

**Masaka: -looking up from the computer in interest-** Really? Cuz the way you are yelling doesn't seem peaceful

**Bakura: -looking frantically between both authoresses-** No! That is- I mean- it isn't –that is- it should- but I don't **–slumps in defeat-**

**Yami:** Ha-ha! Finally I don't sound like a confused loser! I am aware of WHAT my feelings for Yugi are!!

**Nizuki: -creepy poltergeist appearance right behind Yami's back-** Knowing your feelings doesn't mean you've accepted them

**Yami: -jumps away in fright-** GAH!! Since when have you been a ghost?!

**Nizuki:** Since Nero had to stomp on my sunlight bottle. I'm, you know, not going anywhere but I'm kinda like a solid specter. Like how you and Bakura are portrayed in a lot of fanfics!

**Yami:** Fan-flippin-tastic

**Nero:** Please review, review, review!!

**Nizuki:** -**breathing coldly down Yami's neck-** Or eeeeeelse!

**Yami:** GAAAAHHHHH!!

**Masaka:** Oh and Jesi, don't worry, Yami and Tea's lovey-dovey days are SO limited


	36. Take a Dive

**Masaka:** WELCOME TO THE DEMON'S SHADOW-GAME! TREMBLE ALL INNOCENTS!!

**Yami Masaka:** I hate this part. Stupid rules and set-up. Maybe the real writer of Yu-Gi-Oh could handle it but we aren't him!

**Jason:** CHAPTER START!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Like Darrin had promised, sometime around dawn Yugi-tachi got a dream about where the game would take place.

In what had to be some kind of unbelievable irony the setting was that same damn abandoned factory that Joey had been strung up in by his old gang, then later where he'd been attacked by yo-yoers and then where Tea and Mokuba had been held as Malik's prisoners.

Apparently, according to dream-Trika, that factory just had the perfect aura for evil-doing. It was complimentary to darker forces and it lay well within all the proper ley-lines and shadow-faults.

It seemed that whether or not that was true there was definitely no doubt a shadow coliseum was up ahead. The group got within fifty feet of the place and Nizuki started to sneeze and molt feathers like crazy.

"Holy crap! You look terrible! You sure you can help?" Joey stared wide-eyed at the girl angel.

"I think I've been reduced to a simple spectator," Nizuki grumbled as she squeezed her ear-cuff and claimed relief from her shadow-allergies.

"Oh man," Joey whimpered, "well what about the little guy?"

Nero stopped mid-step and looked up at the blonde as though he'd just begun reciting the Devil's Prayer.

"Joey-friend can NOT be serious! I have no near enough power on my own to go against DEMONS!! I can't barely hold own against an imp!"

"We'll be going in without angels, Joey," Yugi flinched empathetically. "I guess you didn't pick up on that though…but knowing that now I wouldn't blame you if you decided you didn't want to fight."

It was Joey's turn to look stupefied. The blonde gapped at his pal for a second and then pulled in a hug –which ended as abruptly as it started because of Joey's mental issues-.

"Don't be stupid, Yug'. Ya're my best friend and I know you'd come fight hell with me if I needed ya too. Nope, yer stuck with me all the way."

"What a comforting thought," Bakura snorted under his breath. Of the entire group the ex-thief looked by far to be the most out of sorts.

There was a sort of desperation hovering over Bakura today that oddly reminded Yugi of the spirit's former self. The Great Thief King of Egypt had been one of the most terrifying opponents Yugi had ever had to face and yet…every time Yugi had looked at him he'd sort of picked up on a wild sadness inside him.

Perhaps Bakura was upset because if they failed here it would be the second time the people he called 'family' were pulled away from him.

Thinking of such a dark fate Yugi couldn't help but walk a little closer to his own dark-half.

Domino Bay was sparkling a few yards away, its waters dyed orange in the fading light of the day. The setting sun did its uttermost to stay above the sea-line, as if it was fighting to keep the shadows at bay for even a moment longer. But Nature could not lend itself to any particular individual no matter how special and finally the brilliant light slid away.

Just as the orb of light totally vanished from sight a, by now, familiar silhouette peeled itself from the darkness of a neighboring warehouse and strolled casually forward until it stood no more than ten feet away from the group.

"So you received my message?" Darrin smiled. It irked everyone there just a little that the demon showed no signs of sunlight scarring.

"We've received your message, demon, now what is the challenge?" Yami said stepping forward so that he was shoulder-to-shoulder with Bakura at the head of the group.

"Snakes and Ladders," Darrin shrugged.

Both spirits took a half step back as if physically moved by their surprise. Snakes and Ladders…was not what they were expecting…at all.

"You're…kidding," Bakura said sounding a tad pleading to Yugi's ear.

"I have no reason to," Darrin shrugged. "My mistress was a little bit…overzealous with the magic side of things so the only game we could devise that would hold everything was Snakes and Ladders."

"That's messed up!" Joey chocked. "How can you stomach bettin' people's SOULS on the outcome of a kiddie game?"

"It is not my place to set up challenges, nor to feel anything about their form and rules," Darrin shrugged again. "I am only here to fulfill my mistress's wishes."

"Your mistress is a sick unrepenting soul who would do anything for fame!" Nizuki snarled, her wings flaring brilliantly even as her feathers withered in the face of the darkness. "Why would you ever serve her?"

"She is my mistress…I cannot outright rebel against her," Darrin said, his crimson eyes fixated on the angel's. Nizuki stared back at the demon with equal intensity.

'Whoa,' Yugi gasped as the air-pressure seemed to increase between the two entities. 'These guys are SUPER intense.'

"…Heh," Nizuki snorted as she crossed her arms over her chest, still not looking away. "Well isn't that a terrible situation you've got. But I suppose it was better than whatever alternative you could have chosen."

"Much better," Darrin bowed charmingly. "Now if you and the other angel wouldn't mind moving aside? There is a shadow-seal on the door that I will have to lift to let our challengers inside and I wouldn't want your sensitive selves to be unduly damaged."

"Just a second," Nizuki groaned. She turned to Bakura and gave the ex-spirit a slightly less-than-friendly squeeze on the shoulder. "You're one of my watched too, Bakura. If you call to me I will do whatever I can to help you."

"Thanks but no thanks, bird-woman," Bakura smiled confidently. "If you loose anymore feathers your pigeon wings will be bald and then Ryou will be REALLY pissed at me. I'll handle this solo."

"Excuse me?" Yami glowered.

"-Mostly solo," Bakura corrected himself.

"If that is what you believe," Nizuki frowned, "but even so try and keep Nero and myself in mind."

"Sure thing," Bakura grinned tauntingly.

Nero lunged at Yugi and squeezed the ever-living out of the boy.

"Be strong, Yugi-sama! Bring back Ryou-san! And do NOT make Yami-san cry!"

"I'll try my best," Yugi coughed as he awkwardly hugged the angel back. "And you make sure to give us all your love okay? You pray until you can't pray anymore."

"I will," Nero sniffled.

Yami stepped up and peeled the angel off of his aibou then turned to the patiently waiting demon.

"What are the terms of the game?" he asked sternly.

"If you manage to make your way to Ryou you win…the other rules are yours to discover," Darrin smiled before fading away into the shadows.

"Oh MAN that is super creepy!" Joey shuddered.

"Of all three morons in your idiot posse, you had to bring along the one who's terrified of the occult," Bakura moaned as the angels flew off to a nearby rooftop.

"Honda and Otogi aren't as resistant to shadow-magic as I am," Joey pouted.

"Oh wow, that makes all the difference," Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Listen up tomb-robber, we are all in this together, so stop being so snide," Yami frowned.

"It's habit mostly, oh great one, I can't just shut it off," Bakura replied.

"Oh both of you stop it!" Yugi snapped. "Everyone is on edge and if we don't face off against Trika and her monsters soon we'll end up at each other's throats! So let's just agree to disagree and get inside already!"

The two spirits flushed in shame but then put their poker-faces back on and nodded. Bakura headed towards the pulsing black and purple door first followed by a shivering and whining Joey…Yugi and Yami held back a moment.

"It's not too late to back out," Yami frowned.

"Not with the stakes this high," Yugi frowned back. "But thanks for saying that."

The two stared at the vortex awaiting them then looked up at the angels, then looked back at the door.

"This is it then."

"It is."

"…Run in on three?"

"Agreed."

"One-"

"-Two-"

"-THREE!!"

**CHAPTEREND**

**Masaka:** Sorry about the long delay folks, I've just hit a bit of a story-snag that's well...anyway it's gonna take me a while to get through this demon game but trust me I'm plugging away at it...around my growing insanity and various other problems

PLEASE KEEP FAITH IN ME!!


	37. Snake Bit Venom

**Masaka:** Just so you all know I hate this particular part of the story…I hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE it!

**Yami Masaka:** Unfortunately this challenge is by far one of the most important scenes in the story so there is no way to bypass it

**Masaka: sulking** hate it!

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

The vortex tugged at Yugi's mind and body in a way that was, sadly, almost second-nature to him.

The pressure built higher and higher until Yugi felt he wouldn't be able to take a second more of it then diminished to almost nothing.

He and Yami stumbled at their feet hit the cement flooring on the other side, catching each other's arms in a bid for balance. Luckily it worked otherwise Yugi was sure that he would lose all his serious gamer credit.

Slowly turning his eyes from his other-half to the room at large Yugi couldn't help but gasp. If he hadn't been so familiar with the area of town they were in he would have never guessed that this place had once been an abandoned metal-works factory.

The entire center of the room had been transformed into a seemingly bottomless pit whose walls glowed neon green. Vapors rose up from the depths, bringing a strong smell of sulfur up with them and almost invisible beings –Yugi could only assume they were ghosts—drifted through the gases moaning so slightly their voices were almost inaudible.

On the far side of the room the supervisor's platform, a giant metal grate fastened to the high wall and accessible by a single rusty fire-ladder, stood almost larger than life. The two demons had made the perch their own. The pink-haired demon in particular had set up a rather over-done golden throne seemingly made of human bones cast forever in a layer of precious metal. The affect made Yugi think of Kul Elna.

It was also up on this high perch that the demons kept Ryou. The boy looked even emptier today than he had yesterday, his eyes empty and his body limp, held up only by a cocoon of ropes.

The 'game-board' of the room had to be the five-space wide (twenty-space) width plank that hovered seemingly unsuspended over the bottomless pit.

"Wow," Yugi could only gasp in awe. Luckily Yami had a much cooler reaction than his, reclaiming some of those pride point that Yugi seemed to be losing so quickly.

"We are here, demons!" the ex-pharaoh called. "Set up the stakes for this challenge and let us begin!"

Bakura and Joey seemed as impressed by the formality as Yugi was and –slightly—their chests swelled with confidence and their grips on their duel-disk, which they had brought along by habit alone, relaxed.

On the other side of the room Trika threw back her petite head and let out an inhuman laugh. She then threw her legs over one side of her throne and motioned Darrin forward.

In less than a second Darrin disappeared from his perch…and reappeared at Yugi's back with a set of ropes identically to the ones around Ryou.

"Hey you bastard! What the hell are you-" Bakura stormed forward, nearly causing a bloody confrontation before Yami caught the taller man's shoulder.

"They can't TAKE anything, Bakura. You have to remember that. They can only tempt and torment us," Yami hissed into the man's ear even as his own eyes watched Darrin with vehement loathing.

"As the opponent's wager you are required to be restrained. You cannot be allowed to join the challenge…in anything but spirit," Darrin said, the last four words coming out of his mouth in a slight whisper.

"B-But why-" Yugi shuddered, looking at the coil in the demon's hands as if it were a snake.

"It is part of the challenge…for every misstep your companions take the coil around you will tighten…and for every step towards victory the ropes around Ryou will loosen. Do you accept this?" Darrin said in a voice that held none of the charm it had even fifteen minutes ago.

It seemed as though the incubus wasn't really all that fond of the 'soul-stealing' part of his job…but Yugi might have just been hoping that as it WAS his life about to be put on the line.

"I accept," Yugi nodded his head formally. No sooner had he spoken Yugi suddenly found himself wound up in a rope cocoon of his own that was so tight it made breathing a chore.

"Yug'!" Joey yelped, catching the look of pain on Yugi's face.

"As you are the furthest from the board that you will ever be at this time the ropes are just about at their tightest grip," Darrin explained courteously. "The ropes will tighten even more if any of you choose to leave the challenge…though it won't kill him so long as at least there is one player on the board."

Darrin nodded formally at the three teenagers then did his little vanishing act again and appeared at the other-side of the room.

"The challengers will choose a duel-monster from their deck to roll the die," the incubus said as he motioned his hand towards a crate-sized formal die sitting pretty on a square of concrete floating alone in the chasm. "The number corresponds to forward movement only. The opponents may move sideways to avoid certain spaces without sacrificing a space."

"OH! Will you get ON with it jugete!" Trika wailed in a teeth-grating fashion. "I want to see these pathetic mortals suffer as soon as possible."

"Very well mistress," Darrin bowed slightly at the demoness. "The object of this game is to reach the platform. The game-board and the ladder up to the platform are littered with spiritual challenges in the form of illusion casting imps or suggestion planting infrits. May you prove yourself strong for the sake of your companion…BEGIN!"

For a moment the teenagers just looked at each other, as if expecting some over the top action to announce the true start. Once that expectation ebbed there was a small torrent of unspoken conversation between them about who would make the initial move.

As it turned out Bakura voluntarily went first. He summoned his Dark Necrophadius to roll the die and when it landed on three he charged across the first three board squares like he really meant to be there. In itself that action probably wouldn't have been impressive but tack on the fact that the board was stretched over a bottomless chasm where restless souls erupted into the air like volcanic snakes then you got a truly impressive sight.

"The first-player has moved without difficulty," Darrin intoned blandly from the balcony. "Second player to move."

Aside from being a lot creeped-out by the ghost Joey Wheeler found himself staring at the shadow game spread out before him in vague disappointment.

"Eh, I guess its GOOD this ain't more complicated but…I mean Come On I thought demons could do better than this," Joey sighed to himself.

"HURRY THE HELL UP, _IWIW_!" Bakura howled over his shoulder. THAT caused Joey to actually shudder and he flicked on his duel-disk then…hmm…okay guess I just hold up the card I want rollin' for me then…hmm…okay I guess Red Eyes can do the honors!"

Almost as soon as the words were off Joey's tongue the black dragon itself appeared. It flapped over to the small islet hovering over the chasm and took the die from Bakura's monster with its teeth. The dragon then flung back its head and rolled a six.

"Awh right! Highest roll!" Joey cheered. He stepped onto the board…which wobbled under his weight and sank further down into the chasm below. "Hey! What the hell?"

"The board sinks every time more weight is added dim-bulb or didn't you notice that?" Bakura rolled his eyes.

"If the board sinks with every additional player how will any of us reach the ladder at the end?" Yami yelped while Joey continued to side-scuttle across the board.

"We knock the spirits odd," Bakura humphed.

"S-spirits," Joey shuddered.

"Yes…the ones the demons are disguising as the snake-spaces," Bakura said his eyes glowing oddly red.

"Oooh!_ Jugete_ he can see our ghosties! Awh! No fair!" Trika pouted as she watched Joey reach his space on hands and knees. "He's gonna beat the first challenge right away."

"Don't be so sure, my mistress," Darrin smirked mysteriously. "True he can see them…but can a man so haunted by the world of ghosts truly overcome the spirits?"

Trika hummed thoughtfully at that and behind her the blank-eyed hikari raised his head in curiosity.

Yami stared at the five-square wide board critically trying to calculate the advantages and disadvantages of each path. At his side Yugi rattled his chains dismally.

"I can't…help this time…can I?" the hikari asked.

"Yugi," Yami frowned at his bound-partner. He then smiled warmly and shook his head. "Just giving me your faith will be enough."

"You have that, unconditionally," Yugi smiled. Yami nodded understandingly then took a card out of his holster.

"Dark Magician!" the former duel-king called. The purple-haired magician appeared and bowed. "I need you to try and roll some number less than five, my friend. Otherwise I will be the first to fall to those demon snake illusions."

The magician nodded gravely and went to the islet.

"Why less than a five?" Yugi asked, though he had an idea of why.

"I've looked at the board carefully, aibou. There is only one path I can take that won't put me in the way of Joey and Bakura. If I take another path I will lock in our allies and limit their forward advancements."

"Ah! You want to walk AROUND each snake and ladder and just get to the stairs," Yugi realized.

"Yes, I can use my monster to carry me up the steps. Darrin did say the players could use their monsters as they wished."

"All right!" Yugi cheered. "We've got a strategy now."

Yami nodded and turned his head just in time to see Dark Magician roll a four.

Yami stepped onto the board and awkwardly stumbled to his space as the board sank another foot towards the void below.

"All three players are on the board," Darrin intoned. "New rollers will be selected for next turn."

As he said that a rush of vapor-like spirits from far-below rushed up and attacked Red Eyes, Dark Necrophadios and Dark Magician causing them to shatter as they would in a virtual duel.

"Your monsters have been sent to the graveyard. Select new rollers."

"What the fuck? What does destroying our monsters achieve?" Bakura grumbled as he summoned Mayuka the Headless Samurai to roll.

"It limits our moves…and makes us measure each of those moves we do have more carefully," Yami snarled. "Damn, I can't fly out if I use up all my monsters getting off the board. I'll have to aim for a ladder-space when I get the chance."

Bakura moved forward another three spaces, his toes just skimming along a snake illusion square. The spirit within stirred restlessly and tugged at the former thief's ankle, nearly causing the white-haired spirit to stumble off the game-board all together.

"Stupid freakin' pretty-boys and their stupid freakin' games," Joey mumbled to himself as he looked through his cards. "Alright! Roll em high Panther Warrior!"

The great animal swordsman sprung to life and rolled the die.

"Okay! Four spaces ! That takes me to a ladder-space!" Joey started his trek directly forward, both Bakura and Yami jolted.

"Joey! No! You should step around-"

"Damn it, don't cross over the top of a snake-space!" Bakura yelled quicker than his companion player.

Joey paused to curiously look at the former spirits and in his moment of hesitation the space activated.

"Second player's advancement cut short by opponent. Engage or fall back four spaces," Darrin explained.

"I AIN'T MOVIN' NOWHERE FREAK, SO YOU CAN JUST…uh-oh," Joey mumbled as an enormous snake-head lunged up at him from the ground.

The blonde only had a moment to flinch before suddenly everything went dark and the snake's mouth closed over him.

"JOEY! Damn it! Baphomet, Rescue Joey from that-" Yami called out with his card already raised.

"MORON! The bridge can't take excess weight!" Bakura jumped in before Yami could finish the order. Yami instantly lost his words. "Besides, you putz, this is a shadow-game. It's a challenge to the soul not the body. The snake is just an illusion!"

"Incorrect. Each snake-space is a combatant. A spirit that the challenger must face. Joey has fallen to the spirit of Uo Mitani, a woman who soul her soul after she was betrayed by her female lover. Jounouchi MUST face Uo's illusion or the snake will devous him bones and all. He refused the alternative," Darrin explained over the top of Trika's evil cackling.

"OOOOH! Spirit challenges! Finally something interesting! " Trika squealed as she summoned one of her wall-eyes to send down to watch Joey's soul despoil.

Darrin reached out and grabbed the creature before it could even leave the scaffolding. "Mistress, the show is not a public one. If you try to interfere the entire challenge will be voided."

"Oh phooey," Trika pouted. She turned her anger on Ryou, kicking the boy's binds, showing their tautness matched the grip on Yugi's ropes. Perhaps only movement backwards or forward loosen the rope…because right now Yugi couldn't feel any pain from Joey's subduing only a deep pain in his heart.

"JOEY!! NO!!" Yugi screamed, his body wrenching against his bindings aimlessly.

"…See? Told ya it was about the illusions," Bakura said simply.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Outside Joey's agony echoed in the two waiting angel's minds.

"THE FIRST STRIKE!!" Nizuki screamed, instinctually running to the door with her sword in hand.

"NIZUKI-NEE, THE BARRIER!" Nero yelped making the older angel regain her senses just in time to halt a mere centimeter from the dark miasma.

"S-silver c-clouds," Nizuki huffed. Nero sighed in relief then turned his attention back to his prayer for success, though not without a mournful glance at the door.

'If only _**I**_ had Nee-chan's power…"

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Joey couldn't remember what he was doing or where he was. He couldn't remember anything, only that he had an important job to do…a really important job…or was it? …what…was it?

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

"Take your turn pharaoh no baka! The _iwiw_ will break out and finish his turn later!" Bakura yelled.

"I-I…can't…Joey is," Yami trembled.

"FUCKING MORON! WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'RE DOING HERE? THINK OF YUGI FOR RA'S SAKE!!" Bakura spat.

Yami just shook his head. He had to wait until Joey was free. If he moved and got swallowed himself Joey wouldn't have any hope at all.

"Player three has bypassed his turn. Player one select a new roller," Darrin intoned.

"FINE! MORON! I DON'T NEED HELP ANYWAY! I'LL GET RYOU BACK ON MY OWN!!" Bakura roared.

As he turned toward the distant goal again the ex-thief could feel unhealed wounds in his soul ache and his still adamant supply of shadows bristle. He didn't want to have to use any dirty trick in this game…but right now he was nearly the point of breaking all former vows he'd made with the blonde-angel outside and with himself about power.

'_Ryou doesn't even know you anymore,' _Nizuki's voice seemed to ring in his head even as his hand ached to release a ball of shadows_, 'when I saw him…last…he told me that all he knew of you was shadows and that…now that he had Darrin…he didn't feel like he should settle for a work-in-progress shadow-addict bastard…when he could have all his heart desires.'_

'No shadows,' Bakura gritted his teeth. 'Not now. I have to PROVE to Ryou that I'm not some pathetic bastard…'

Yet even as he said these words some part of his mind was disagreeing. Some darker, unaddressed part of his blackened soul was laughing at him…telling him that he needed shadows more than he needed some pathetic boy's trust.

"I'll save Ryou…and then I'll beat his ass red for putting me through all this," Bakura growled softly, trying to find a balance between his two impulses.

He didn't notice how Yami looked up at him and how the ex-pharaoh seemed to frown in disapproval.

Fallen Maria was Bakura's next pick for roller and with a single flex of its undead arm's it gave Bakura a straight path to a ladder-space, without any snakes in the way.

"First player's advancement boosted by three spaces," Darrin intoned.

Yami watched Bakura zoom closer to the end of the board then he turned his gaze back to Yugi who was watching Joey's space with worry.

'Bakura, you don't understand. Shadow games are the most important place for showing loyalty. You're never going to get Ryou back if you keep yourself so closed,' Yami thought sadly. He then took a deep breath and called out 'PASS!'

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

This trend continued for another two turns when suddenly something inside Bakura's head just switched on, like it had that night he'd attacked Ryou. More slowly but definitely in the same fashion Bakura could feel his eyesight start to gray and his shadow-count to spike.

"W-what the hell?" Bakura choked. It was only then that he noticed the swirling vapors and specters were curling around him like kittens around their masters' ankles.

"Having trouble, _quita __ladrón?"_ Trika's voice suddenly flooded into his head.

"Y-You!" Bakura choked as his feet stumbled for purchase. He could barely feel anything let alone the floor below him.

"Not me, _ladrón, _rather it is the infrits…as we did warn you," Trika giggled as she stroked her nails through Darrin's hair, regardless of the man's flinches.

"Bakura? What's wrong with you?" Yami called from his position on the far side of the board.

"I-I can…I can barely…see," Bakura managed to answer despite himself. He wasn't sure why he even bothered to answer the other's question. It wasn't like it would help him any. And revealing weakness to an enemy was always a bad thing in his book.

"Bakura!" Yugi called. "You only have six more steps until you reach the ladder! Just walk straight forward!"

Bakura shook his head and took out his next roller. The monster, whoever it was Bakura couldn't sense, rolled out its number and Darrin called out the move as did for every move.

"Opponent advances three spaces!"

'Damn,' Bakura thought as he stumbled blindly forward. 'I guess I don't get a break even with demons.'

The shadows had boiled up until he could feel them tickling his eardrums. Because of this he couldn't hear Yugi crying or Yami swearing…and as the shadows boiled one more time…he couldn't see the snake that lunged up and swallowed him whole.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Yugi screamed. Up above them all Ryou raised his head from the floor and looked curiously over at the now engorged snake with interest.

Darrin raised an eyebrow at the motion, knowing fully well that Ryou was beyond emotional-capability right now, but didn't say anything to his now victorious singing mistress.

"Player one has fallen to the spirit Eion Culmacky, a British youth who died in the grips of hatred as his scam partner turning on him. Player one must either subdue the spirit…or die."

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND **

**Masaka:** Oh don't worry all you little readers. Our boys are FINE! They just have to crack a crummy demonic illusion and their back in the game

**Yami Masaka:** Though I'm sure it would do their egos good to hear your loving words.

**Nero:** SPECIAL NOTICE!! Everyone pays attention to how Zubarro is acting. He giving every opportunity for the opponents and he doesn't say anything insulting! Is proof of some good-guy inside!


	38. FINALLY! They Learn

**Masaka:** LET ME OUT OF THIS NIGHTMARE

**Yami Masaka:** I HATE ACTION PLOT THAT DOESN'T HAVE ACTION!!

**Masaka:** I HATE THIS STUPID PLOT FOR TAKING THE ENTIRE END OF SUMMER BREAK TO WRITE

**Yami Masaka:** I HATE THAT BECAUSE IT TOOK SO LONG YOU HAVE TO POST IT WITHOUT BETA-READING IT OR GET KARMA-WHIPPED BY YOUR FANS!!

**Both:** LET'S GET THIS STUPID CHALLENGE OVERWITH ALREADY!!

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Joey wasn't sure exactly what was going on. It sort of felt like he was half-awake and his dreams were slipping from him as his awareness slowly increased. Strangely something within him was trying to hold onto what must have been a weird dream.

Demons…and screaming…and something about a clay jar shaped like a human…it didn't make any sense so Joey let it go and focused on what he felt and what he knew.

He knew his head felt like it was being put through a meat-grinder and he felt his body was worrisomely numb but that was about as far as his knowledge went.

'Okay, this is weird,' Joey thought to himself as his mind hovered through limbo; 'wasn't I just in the middle of something…something…important…kinda…'

He was getting more and more worried when he realized he couldn't remember anything about what was going on.

….

….

….

Suddenly as if someone had switched on a light Joey was fully awake, or so it felt.

He was breathing hard and his body still felt like crap but he was awake.

Slowly, so as not to aggravate his throbbing limbs Joey rotated his head around, trying to pick up as much as his surroundings as his sense would allow him.

His eyes were telling him little other than he was in a very bland white room with a curtain like a shower-hanger fluttering slightly to his right. There was a very old looking television fastened to the wall in front of him and there were strange guard-rails on the sides of his bed.

What Joey's nose told him was much more helpful. The sharp sting of antiseptic and that chalking nauseating mixture of powdery latex and lollipops told him that he was in a hospital.

'A hospital…why am I in a hospital?' Joey wondered to himself as he twitched his fingers experimentally. One of his index fingers was being squeezed by what Joey was pretty sure he recognized as a monitor for movement.

Three tubes were going in through his hands, two on one side, and one on the other. There were wires coming out from under his cheap and paper-thin hospital gown.

"Awwh this is great," Joey wailed aloud. He wasn't fond of hospitals on his good days…even less now that he had no idea why he was hear expect for a faint ache in his body and especially his chest.

Somewhere out of his immediate line of sight someone gasped and suddenly a light –a small one that was meant for patients to read by that was fastened to the bars on his gurney—flashed on and a wonderfully familiar face came into view.

"Joey! Oh that God, you're alright," Yugi wailed as he delicately leaned over the bed-railing and hugged his companion.

"Yugi…have you been cryin'?" Joey asked softly, noticing immediately how Yugi's thick eyelashes weren't lying flat. Yugi's eyes kind of had a built in mascara quality that always made it easy to check for tears.

"W-what were you expecting?" Yugi sniffed as he embarrassedly ran his knuckles under his eyes and wiped away the streaks. "Y-you aren't exactly Mister Popularity right now but…b-but I'm always here for you."

"Yah…I know," Joey grinned. Inside his guts were squirming with discomfort. He remembered the last time he was in a hospital with a tearful Yugi. It had been the time when Yugi had slit his wrists.

"You okay?" the blonde asked.

"A-am **I** okay?" Yugi laughed wetly. "Joey, you're the one who threw himself off the Domino-Bay Bridge!"

Suddenly Joey was very aware that he really didn't have any idea what was going on and it jarred his stomach even more than the sight of a tearful Yugi did.

"I…don't remember."

**SCENECHANGESCENCECHANGE**

Bakura rolled over on his stomach and tried not to vomit. While he could feel the reassuring blanket of shadows crawling over his skin his head felt like an over-ripened cantaloupe fallen off a merchant's cart.

"Kamenwati…Kamenwati…Kamenwati!! Come on you son of a slave's wife, you're going to get caught by a palace guard lying out here in the open!" a vaguely familiar voice said from somewhere above him.

The sound of his old name raised Bakura out of his less than restful sleep and entreated him to look up at the source.

Standing above him was a young man dressed in a light kilt and a red coat similar to his own. The man's face definitely put him in a Kul-Elna family, with the piercing lavender eyes and foreign blonde hair –light like his own but still more yellow than his own--. It was a strange trait particular to their clan only.

Behind this man's head was a thatched roof, or…no it wasn't a roof, it was the slatted canopy that shadowed the main-streets keeping them from the direct heat of the sun and allow the cold, which came from building a city as one giant cooling cell, to remain on the ground.

"What…is going on?" Bakura asked, feeling slightly panicked when he realized he didn't know his companions name or allegiance.

"Geez little bro, you definitely fried your brains this time, huh?" the man smiled.

"What?"

"Oh geez," the man laughed as he ran a hand through his hair, as he did so Bakura could see the hot iron-bran of a former palace-prisoner on the man's forearm. Suddenly Bakura felt a lot better.

The man reached down and helped Bakura to his feet then gave the King of Thieves a hearty slap on the back.

"I turn away for a single blink while I'm seducing a fine-ass serving-wench in the tavern and when I look back you're nowhere to be found. I told you that mead would knock you on your ass. Even you, the mighty drunk of Egypt, can only handle so much."

Slowly a faint smirk drew itself on Bakura's face. He remembered drinking almost daily in a less than evil quest to keep the voices of his departed village out of his head. Somehow knowing even that much made Bakura feel a little less lost.

"Wati," he chuckled, the name just coming to his lips as natural as a breath. "You know full well I can handle any liquor. Besides…I think I recall that last night was something of a celebration."

Wati smiled until the corners of his eyes wrinkled –the man was in his early thirties after all—and he slapped Bakura's back again as he laughed.

"Oh it was alright! The acquisition of the map that will lead us, finally, to all our greatest and ugliest dreams!"

"…The map to the tomb of the Pharaoh," Bakura smirked.

"The map to our golden field of plenty," Wati agreed. "And it's all thanks to me, and my eternal patience in that damn dungeon."

"Hey, I'm the one that rescued you from the dungeon," Bakura snorted.

"Yes, but that was only coincidence. You were looking for Mahaado," Wati snickered.

"And I found the only other survivor of Kul-Elna," Bakura said formally. Wati's eyes drifted away from his and stared at the ground in what Bakura was presuming was grief.

"We're a good team, Wati. And there is no doubt between us…with all the tricks our parents left us…we'll drain this kingdom of ALL its riches!" Bakura laughed, hoping to dispel his partner's gloom.

"And once we do that, maybe we can silence the voices in the empty canyon you call a brain," Wati snickered.

"Oh, very nice," Bakura punched Wati in the arm.

Wati only laughed and led Bakura back towards their current headquarters. Even nauseous and tormented as he felt Bakura couldn't help but reveal in the fact that he was with someone he could really trust…someone who made the void that only booze and shadows could fill…lessen.

"We'll take on the whole fucking kingdom!" Bakura howled to the sky.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE **

Nizuki was getting more and more anxious as the moments passed. She had sensed Bakura's spirit fade just as she'd senses Joey's spirit and the fact that she couldn't do anything to help other than pray was driving her nuts.

"Praying is good, praying is great, but SILVER CLOUDS what I wouldn't give to be cracking demon heads with my sword," Nizuki huffed as she paced back and forth before the door.

"Nizuki-nee, stop. The only way we get in there…I can't think of a way we both can get it there. Not without Bakura making a sturdier link and even then I doubt we could overcome the seal," Nero sighed, his eyes unopened as he concentrated on prayer.

"GAAAH! That idiot!!" Nizuki wailed. "Why won't he open up already!!"

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

"Joey I can't believe you don't remember anything," Yugi sighed. "I bet you don't even remember that Seto is…here for the same reason you are."

While Joey had been having his little freak out the nurses had come for rounds. Seeing the blonde awake the nurse had summoned the doctor who had been unhelpful in the way he impersonally prodded and poked Joey's body and scribbled who-knows-what on his clipboard.

The doctor had seemed more interested in the patient beyond the curtain, who if Yugi was telling him correct, happened to be Seto Kaiba.

"I don't remember SQUAT right now, Yug'," Joey grumbled as he forced his body up to a sitting position despite the many wires tugging at his arms.

"I can't believe this," Yugi muttered under his breath. "I mean if Seto wakes up to THIS reaction…"

"Yug' come on, my head is cracked enough to make Humpty Dumpty look good, I can't spare no energy to figger this out on my own; just tell me what's goin' on," Joey grumbled.

"Joey, you and Seto were going to commit suicide together," Yugi blushed up to his ears. "Because…because his company…and your sister…"

"Are you kiddin' me?" Joey snorted. "I love my life, why would I go and throw it away?"

"You…I can't talk about this Joey, I really can't," Yugi shook his head vehemently. "The doctors will have me thrown out in a second if they hear me talking about this stuff with you. They already think I'm a little…screw-loose because of…when I was here."

"Yug', you had a different reason for bein' here. You had lost half a' your soul," Joey tried to soothe his friend.

"Joey," Yugi shook his head warily. "I had thought you were beginning to understand how I'd felt back then. I mean when you and Seto first told me I …"

"What secret? What with his company? What about my sister? Yug' I don't know ANYTHING right now and your silence is KILLIN' me!" Joey yelped as the heart-monitor at his side started to beep its discontent.

"…It was Seto's idea…to commit a lover's suicide when it became apparent…that not only was he going to lose his brother and his company…but that he was going to lose you…as well," Yugi explained.

Joey's heart monitor momentarily went silent.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

The path was not an easy one. The tiniest donkey they could find still managed to slip and slid over the lip of the small trail spilling half the supplies down the mountain side and when the two thieves moved the remaining packs onto their own shoulders they'd nearly tottered off the cliff themselves.

"Holy Set!" Wati panted when they finally reached an outcropping of rock wide enough to rest in. "No wonder the royals stinkin' treasure rested safely here for so long! How in Anubis's sweet name did they move it in here in the first place?"

Bakura chuckled darkly at his companion's distress and gulped down a whole skin of water. Even though he was still suffering from some disturbing shadow imbalance the white-haired thief was feeling happier than he had in a long time. He was only a few steps away from his revenge. And once that revenge was his then maybe, just MAYBE he could get ON with his life.

"Awwwh, does poor Wati's feet hurt?" Bakura teased his companion unmercifully. "Did his time in the big bad pharaoh's jail rob him of all his strength and leave him as meek as Atem in his harem?"

"Shut…up…jackass…bastard," Wati only panted causing Bakura to laugh even more viciously.

The other thief then looked at up at him through sweat-damp bangs with such seriousness that the jovial spirit was sucked right out of Bakura's lungs.

"Kamenwati…what if we can't make it? I mean, I don't doubt your skills or anything but…. Well I've had a lot of time to think about it you know and I was thinking that maybe we should just get on with-"

Bakura didn't let him finish. He threw the empty water-skin at the man's face and reached his hand down to his surprisingly seldom used knife. The knife was encrusted with golden and born the symbol of the pharaoh. It had been his father's last funerary commission before he and all the other villagers had been branded tomb-robber and melted into gold. Bakura only ever pulled it out when he was seriously pissed.

"Kul-Elna was murdered in cold blood by a bunch of jackasses afraid to lose their power for a single generation. There is no getting over something like that!!"

Wati wiped his face off with his branded forearm, his eyes still staring straight into Bakura's.

"I didn't mean we should forget or anything. It's just that…well ya know I heard a lot of stuff in the jail. The pharaoh was stupid but he wasn't malicious or anything and ya know revenge against someone like that well…it isn't gonna get us anything is it?"

"It will give ME some peace of mind," Bakura growled as he hefted his kit back over his shoulders. "But if you want to crawl off like a scared dog then you can. I don't need anybody."

Wati growled darkly at Bakura and his eyes seemed to flash the deepest black for a second. "You need ME you ass."

"Prove it then. Prove I need you and make yourself useful!" Bakura snarled.

"Screw you! I don't have to prove anything!" Wati screamed.

"Well screw you too! And you're lame-ass dead-beat donkey!" Bakura yelled back as he charged off. He was so angry he could actually hear his people's voices muttering for blood in the back of his mind.

Bakura shrugged off the disgusting chattering and muscled his way forward. Wati ticked him off but he wasn't worth killing…he wasn't a killer…he wasn't.

"_You aren't yet,"_ some gut instinct whispered loud amongst the many voices. "_Just give it time…I know you'll learn better."_

Bakura shuddered and continued on. He climbed up to the next bend when a clatter of rocks below signaled Wati's presence.

"You're coming then?" he asked, not sparing a look back.

"It's my treasure too, jackass."

Bakura couldn't help but grimace. Why was he so bad at treating the people close to him kindly?

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Yami stood solemnly on his square passing by every turn that he was given. Trika was busy celebrating her supposed 'victories' and Yugi was trying to breath through the tightening of his chains even as he sobbed his eyes out.

The only ones who seemed totally indifferent to everything were Darrin and Ryou. Ryou was only staring vacantly at the place where Bakura had been devoured while Darrin was staring down at his watch…as if he was waiting for it all to get over and done with.

"WAHAHAHAHA! GIVE UP YOU STUPID CHIT!! WE WIN! WE WIN! OH _**HAPPY DAYS**_ WE WIN!!" Trika cheered.

"You don't win until all the players have been taken out…and that hasn't happened yet," Yami glowered up at hell's cheerleader.

"…Joey," Yugi whimpered.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Joey was alone again. Yugi had left back home a few hours ago and the nurses had long since decided that he was too much trouble to bother fussing over.

But for once the blonde wouldn't have minded a little coddling. Having a fleet of physicians arguing over the proper way to elevate his ankle and scold Joey for getting his ankle hurt in the first place would have been preferable to sitting in the dark thinking about ...thinking about _Seto Kaiba._

"God, this cannot be happening," Joey huffed as he ran his hands through his hair. "This can't be real, I mean…Me…Jumpin' offa roof for Kaiba…of all people? Ugh the idea itself if messin' with my stomach, YUCK!"

"…Is that really how you feel?" another voice suddenly spoke out of the dim causing Joey to nearly tear himself away from his own IV-pole.

"HOLY SHI- K-Kaiba! What the hell! I thought you was still unconscious street-pizza!" Joey yelped, clutching his bedposts even as he looked over at the CEO.

Seto Kaiba had always annoyed Joey for a hell of a lot of reasons but one of the top reasons was that the guy always looked so well-kept even when he had no right to. Through kidnappings and mind-snatching and fan-girl stampedes from hell the brunette always looked sexy and in-control…

It should have made Joey feel better to see Seto looking mortal for once, with dark circles under his sapphire eyes and a patch of thick gauze slapped over a shaved patch of scalp just behind his ear. It should have made Joey feel better to see Seto looking vulnerable and completely without his veil of superiority…it should have…but it didn't.

"Joey…what you just said…is it true?" Seto asked, turning so that he was sitting on the edge of his bed, facing Joey. Somehow Kaiba had gotten a bed without bars.

"I uh well…I-I mean gees Kaiba don't you think it's weird?" Joey laughed nervously. "I mean…well I don't know what I mean but…No I do know what I mean. What the hell did you think going after me? I'm as straight as a freaking arrow! I don't even like watching my best bud Yugi hang around other guys cuz he's…well ya know…I-I mean that might sound mean but…ya know?

Seto just looked at Joey with an indecipherable look that for some reason always made Joey antsy and ache for a fight. It was that look that Kaiba always gave him right before he insulted the blonde and slammed him into a wall.

"…I suppose it does sound weird when you put it like that," Seto smiled weakly.

Joey sighed heavily and laughed. The panic, that had been whirling through him since he'd woken up, ebbed away into nothing.

"Yah, really dumb isn't it."

Seto didn't respond other than lying himself back down. Joey continued to laugh into the silence until he realized the other boy had actually gone to sleep.

"Yah…dumb," he told himself once more before finally letting sleep pull him under again.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Bakura and Wati walked in a tense silence for the next quarter-mile, only speaking when they needed to warn the other of an obstacle on the path.

They were both too angry to speak to one another and Bakura was actually menacingly thinking of using his shadows to trip Wati off the mountain all together.

Then suddenly the older man walked right up to Bakura side and offered him the last of his water.

"I know I'm hard to work with…but just keep reminding yourself that blood is thicker than water…okay One-With-Many-Issues?"

Suddenly any ill-feelings Bakura held fluttered away and he accepted the water with a grin. He had felt so alone for so long and Wati really was family…so what if he was also an ass.

"Using the ole we're both from Kul-Elna excuse to get out of trouble again, are we?"

"Of course," Wati grinned, though if Bakura had looked closer he would have noticed the grimace hidden behind the curved lips.

"Well alright then…but I'M getting a bigger share of the gold for this."

"Bastard!"

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Joey was awoken to the sounds of screaming nurses. He stumbled upright, at first figuring some crazy guy had slipped into the hospital room while he was vulnerable. As the sleep drained more fully from his mind, however, Joey was able to recognize that the screams were being directed at the window…where Kaiba had obviously climbed up onto the roof above.

"C-crap! What the hell?" Joey yelped, stumbly awkwardly out of his sheet to walk over to the window.

"W-we have to call the fire brigade! Get a ladder up to him or something!" the nurse screamed to her subordinates. The women all agreed and darted out of the room leaving Joey alone and very confused.

"Why would Seto try to escape the hospital through a window this high up," after a moment's thought Joey realized that was ridiculous and that the only reason Seto was on the roof…the only reason ANYONE would be on the roof outside the guard-rail…

"SETO! YOU ASS! GET DOWN FROM THAT DAMN BALCONY RIGHT NOW!!" Joey screamed, shoving his head out the window to look up at the CEO.

"I don't see any reason why I should," Kaiba said his voice surprisingly mellow for a guy about to swan-dive into asphalt. "I see no reason for me to listen to a single thing you say anymore. You are obviously disgusted with me now, or perhaps you always were and I just fooled myself into thinking the last three months we had together meant anything. I have nothing to return to Joseph. I have no family, no job…my pride as a duelist is even beyond repair. I see no reason to bother with this tedious existence a second longer."

"Seto, I ….I don't HATE ya," Joey flinched. "I just…shit Seto, maybe I just…but I don't feel that way now. I really don't."

"It will probably go easier for you if you were to turn away now," Seto sighed as he raised one foot out into space.

"THAT'S IT!!" Joey yelled as he scrambled out the window and side-scuttled over to Seto's side. This caused the billionaire such shock he returned both feet to the ledge.

"What on God's green EARTH are you doing, you stupid mutt?" he snarled. "I won't have my final moments filled with guilt because of you."

"No, you'd rather just be a prissy little queen about the whole thing and go down in a shower of self-pity right?" Joey glowered even as his knees trembled like mad beneath him.

"Yes, I'm a 'prissy little queen', a stupid little fairy, whatever you like to call it, and you're as straight as an arrow and seem to think I would be better off dead so can we stop all this blustering?" Seto yelled right back.

"I DO hate you, Seto!" Joey snarled. "Good GOD I think you are a rotten human being and you have got to be THE most stubborn jackass I have EVER met…but that…doesn't mean I want you to die. Seto…I …I'll admit to ya here and now that if you tried to kiss me…it would feel like my skin was going to crawl off somewhere in disgust. I cannot cope with you calling me pet-names or even acting sweet…I don't know why…it just trips my trigger a little. But ya gotta understand that none a' those things are your fault. Shit, I know I've dissed my BEST FRIEND more times than he deserves cuz of my hang-ups and causing him pain has always been the one thing I swore I'd never do! It's not any o' ya guys' faults. I'm the one to blame for makin' ya feel like shit…and so…I gotta tell ya…that if you jump, I jump. I mean I don't wanna jump but…well…if I don't it just chalks another inexcusable diss and piss under my name and…I got too much pride too…for that to happen."

Maybe it was just the way the wind was blowing in the CEO's eyes or the fact that everything was feeling more and more surreal but Joey could have sworn that Seto's eyes suddenly turned as green as lilies.

"You're willing…to die for me…even though you don't love me?" Seto gasped in a voice that sounded weirdly unlike his own.

"Hey, accordin' to Yug' I already promised we'd die together and Joey Wheeler never goes back on his word," Joey winked. He then looked down and shuddered. "But ya know…I'd really rather have us die together of old age…if at all possible…"

"I…I can't…go back," Seto continued in that strange voice. "I mean I'm already…I'm already…"

"S-Seto ya aren't making much sense…awwwh shit this high up…." Joey said distractedly. "Come on back with me and we can yak it up all ya want…hell if you want I'll even fake flirting with those orderlies patrolling the hallway just…just let's get back inside."

Kaiba stared at Joey as if he'd never seen anyone quite like him before and his grip on the fencing behind him began to come undone.

"I wouldn't have…died…if someone like you had just…told me the truth…if they'd just been brave enough …to tell me the truth….And if I'd…if I'd asked for that truth…I could have saved myself…I could have…moved on…"

"KAIBAAAAA!" Joey screamed as the other teenager's grip come lose completely.

"I could have lived," he said just as his fingertips left the metal mesh completely.

"NO!!" Joey screamed, lunging off the rooftop himself and grabbing Seto up in his arms.

"What are you doing?" Seto's weird voice echoed over the rushing air.

"I'm doin' what I said I'd do," Joey yelled. "Stupid prissy boy!"

He looked up to give the ex-CEO the mother of all hate glares but was stopped short when he saw that the body he was holding was not that of Seto Kaiba, but of another, much more miserable looking person.

"W-who the hell are you?" Joey gasped.

The boy smiled, his green eyes sparkling beneath thick lashes. His face was as serene as an angel's despite the fast approaching ground.

"I'm no one you have to worry about anymore…Joseph… I release you from my destiny. I will not burden you with what MY sins were…anymore."

"What are you-" Joey started to asked when the ground finally reached them and Joey plunged into blackness.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Trika was just about to wrap up her little pop-princess victory chant when suddenly the spirit-snake encompassing Joey's body began to writher around as if it were in pain.

"H-Hey! What's going on? Why is my snake so unhappy?" Trika wailed to her partner.

"Mistress, you DO realize what a dying snake looks like…don't you?" the incubus rolled his eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE!! STOP IT! STOP IT!! GO DOWN THERE AND FIX MY SNAKE! YOU CAN'T LET IT DIE WITHOUT KILLING THAT BLONDE BRAT!!" Trika screeched at an almost inhuman pitch.

"If I did that, mistress, this game would be void and we'd have to return Ryou," Darrin shrugged as if he weren't interested in the results either way.

"Joey is breaking through the curse!" Yugi gasped from his spot, his chains loosening at the same rate as the snake deteriorated.

"I knew it," Yami smirked triumphantly. He longed to rush over and help Joey more closely but he knew he couldn't.

"T-THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! I HAD A TORMENTED SOUL PERFECT FOR HIM READY TO-" Trika wailed.

"Um mistress?" Darrin interrupted. "Joseph isn't the only one breaking out."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!!"

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Bakura could barely understand what he was seeing. He and Wati had gotten into the tomb just fine. They'd tied the mule to a small rock cropping outside and had gathered their tools to venture into the crypt.

They'd been so careful, stepping more lightly than they had in perhaps any heist before. They'd examined every tile before stepping over it and kept an eye on every wall-painting.

But something had gone wrong…so wrong. Bakura wasn't sure if it had been his fault or if it had been Wati's but a trigger had been set off and now…the ceiling was sinking down on them and Wati could barely move an inch an hour with his Silver Fang ravaged leg.

"Damn it…ahhh shit this is bad," Wati grumbled as he tightened his tourniquet around his leg tighter. The white cloth had barely set for five minutes and already it was dripping from the excess blood it could not hold in its fibers.

"Wati, forget your stupid leg! We have to get out of here! Just drop your pack and let me carry you out of here!" Bakura snarled at his partner as his heart thudded painfully against his ribs in panic.

"Are you an idiot? It took us years to get a haul this good!" Wati yelped, clutching his gold-packed sack tightly to his heart.

"Your life is worth more than the gold, moron!" Bakura snapped, though he too was having problems with leaving all this wealth behind. Of course that was secondary to the panic.

"Hey, how about this…you take the gold out first then come back for me? The ceiling isn't dropping THAT fast," Wati suggested.

"I…alright," Bakura grumbled, realizing it would just waste more time to argue. "Throw me your pack."

"Good boy," Wati chuckled, tossing the sack to his partner. Bakura rolled his eyes at the condescending tone and bolted for the exit. He barely took a breath before he had the two bags tossed off and was headed back inside.

Wati stared at his incredulously for his speed but Bakura just snorted in annoyance and knelt down for Wati to get on his shoulders.

"Wait, wait, wait! If you're that fast…well Kamenwati there is a lot of gold here and-"

"What we have is enough. Those sacks had to weigh as much as a whore!" Bakura wailed. "Now just get on my damn shoulders so we can get out of here."

"But the gooold," Wati whined.

"NOW DAMN IT!!" Bakura ordered. Wati pouted a little longer but begrudgingly complied with orders.

Once Bakura had Wati's legs wrapped securely around his hips the thief was off at top-speed, becoming more and more aware that the entrance was shrinking.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it….damn," Bakura wailed as he tried racing to the door…and finding it too short for his standing height was forced to stop.

"Crawling time?" Wati chuckled.

"Yah…damn it…well you'll go first then, I guess," Bakura snorted.

"Moron! I can't do that! You'll never get out if you're waiting on my crippled ass!" Wati gasped.

"Why do you keep acting so argumentative! You are family, worth more than the gold I could have dashed back for and equally worth my than my comfort! I'll be fine even if the exit shrinks another foot or so," Bakura glowered. "So just get your ass-"

"Kamenwati…I …I can't," Wati spoke softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…I can't let you…sacrifice yourself for me," Wati said shoving himself out of Bakura's grasp kicking Bakura into the crawl-space.

"IDIOT! What are you-"

"I'm not an idiot…Kamenwati…I'm a traitor," Wati spoke.

"W-what do you mean? Wati, if you're talking about a plan to double-cross me for the gold or something, I forgive you. I mean, sweet Seth, enough gold can make a man willing to-"

"No Kamenwati…I mean I am…THE traitor…" Wati winced. "I'm the one…who led the pharaoh's army into Kul-Elna on the day it was annihilated…I was betrayed of course, stupid me, but it was me who led them there…And because of that…I can't let you sacrifice yourself for me."

For a moment Bakura felt as if his skull was going to crack from the pressure of rage. He could barely feel his fingers with the sudden surge of spirit enhanced shadow magic. His breath even came out in clouds of frost the magic flared so wildly.

"I know how much you've been suffering…and I never said a damn thing that might have helped you because of my own cowardice…fuck…I guess if it weren't for this thing happening right now…I would have let you DIE not knowing…"

Bakura whimpered and grasped his head, feeling so angry he could almost feel the hatred shearing his soul apart every moment he withheld an attack.

"I'm scum…and I looked after you the way I did…to ease my own guilt…just let me go, Kam…just let me die here…" Wati grimaced.

Bakura let out a final scream and did something that Wati did not expect at all. The self-declared King of Thieves abandoned his shadows and lunged back into the shrinking tomb…enveloping Wati in an embrace that was warmer even than the one he'd given Wati when they'd found each other alive in the pharaoh's dungeon for the very first time.

"M-Moron," the thief wept openly for once. "You are my family! Even if you are an evil dickhead! I-I hate you for what you did and I-I'm going to remind you of how much you fouled up every MINUTE! I'll save us both if only for that! …A-and even if I can s-save us…Wati! You moron, I don't abandon my family and-"

"Kamenwati! Come on, don't do this. You know that you'll die and get stuck in limbo with all our ancestors! You have to just kill me and get out! I mean…that's just how you have to-"

"No! I'm not going to! Fuck the spirits! And fuck what they'll do to me! I'm never letting that shit get control of me if it would force me to kill my fucking family! Wati…I won't leave you."

Slowly, almost as if afraid the white-haired man was an illusion; Wati raised a hand and gently wrapped it around Bakura's shoulders.

"You're…really okay with doing this…"

"I'm not leaving my family! Kul-Elna was taken from me and I couldn't do anything about it but…I can do something about this…I can hold onto you."

"…No…that's not necessary," Wati chuckled. Bakura looked curiously up at the older man and gasped when he saw the features had completely morphed.

"W-Wati…?" Bakura gasped.

"The name is actually Culmacky…and…I release you for my illusion… damn it kid, you actually managed to soothe my immortal rage…if I kept you here just because I don't want to revisit my death alone I'd be a total ass…go on…go back to them and beat those demons at their own game."

Bakura only had time to gasp at the returned memories before the world around him seemed to shatter like glass and reality rushed back into fill the void.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

Joey and Bakura both looked horrible, covered in blood or filled with holes…but at the same time both of them looked strangely…clear-headed…as if something about their near-death experience had somehow helped them to think more clearly.

"BAKURA!! JOEY!! YOU'RE ALL RIGHT!!" Yugi shrieked with joy.

Up above Ryou even seemed to acknowledge the victory by raising his head and turning his empty gaze over to the returned teenagers.

"YOU SEE THAT, YOU CHEERLEADER FROM HELL!!" Yami crowed triumphantly up at the now seriously pouting demoness. "OUR FRIENDS ARE TOO STRONG FOR YOUR TRICKS!! WE CANNOT BE DEFEATED BY SUCH SIMPLE ILLUSIONS!"

"Perhaps not," Trika huffed. She then smiled an eel-like soul-chilling grin and flared her wings pompously. "So perhaps I should move on from the mental illusions…and move onto the real stuff."

Just then the doors behind Yugi were thrown open and Tea came running into the chambers.

"Yami! Someone told me you needed me to come here to meet you! What's going on!"

"Tea! No!"

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND  
**

**Yami: pouting at Masaka's side as she finishes up the chapter** Just great

**Masaka: looks up at the ex-pharaoh in surprise** Wha- Yami? You actually want to be a muse again? I mean…you're actually here

**Yami: **Well I HAVE to be here NOW! I mean even I can tell your about to make my character do something stupid

**Yami Masaka: walking over with tea for the authoress and herself smiling pompously at the spirit** Hey it'll be your own fault if you do something stupid. Why did you ever get involved with Tea anyway?

**Yami: shame-faced** I am so going to get hate-reviews in the next chapter. People are going to say 'How dare Yami act that way right in front of Yugi' and 'Yami is such an idiot! How dare he still love Tea after all she did to him?' and 'Yugi should dump that loser pharaoh if he can't see past a stupid illusion even Joey could break'

**Joey:** HEY!

**Masaka: **Well…can't you just admit you're a stupid, gullible, 'unable-to-hand-women-and-their-tricks' moron to the readers BEFORE it all happens and just hope for the best

**Yami: majorly depressed **I wouldn't blame Yugi for giving up on me! I really wouldn't

**Jason:** READ AND REVIEW PEOPLE!!


	39. Not So Heavenly Intevention

**Masaka: face-down on ground**

**Yami Masaka, Jason and even Super Muse: standing around over Masaka **hmmmm

**Yami Masaka:** She's just finished her midterms and I guess all the stress just …released out of her at once

**Super Muse:** Well hey, don't look at me for her complete collapse I kept on giving her sensational inspiration all throughout midterms week

**Jason: head-locked Super Muse and apply fresh noogie** That's HALF the reason why she's so damn stressed! You kept distracting her when she coulda studied

**Masaka: twitch**

**Yami Masaka, Super Muse and Jason: staring in eager hope**

**Masaka: sleeps on**

**Yami Masaka, Super Muse and Jason: sigh**

**Yami Masaka:** Oh well, don't worry Heavenly Interventions fans, before Masaka was taken under by the academic pressures of her third year in college I was able to grab her chapter notes! So I will be able to write this chapter

**Jason:** Oooh you mean there is another dirty-dream sequence that popped out of nowhere **gets stabbed by Yami Masaka's metaphorical die-you dagger**

**Super Muse:** Oh I'm so happy to be here! Go ahead and read

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

The whole world, it seemed to Yugi, was holding its breath. For an agonizingly long moment after Tea appeared everything just seemed to screech to a painful halt.

Even more painful, however was when Yugi nudged at his mental-link with Yami and was bombarded with the other boy's love and panic towards the brunette now standing with an incubus's claws against her neck.

Yugi could practically taste his other's heartbeat in his mouth it was beating so hard with distress. The ex-pharaoh's calm mind was scrambling for some rescue plan so hard it made Yugi's head hurt.

'_That clinches it, I guess,'_ some snide disconnected voice in the back of Yugi's head spoke out. _'Yami is absolutely, irreversibly, no two-ways about it, in love with Tea Gardener. Just feel that terror, baby, we never stood a chance with him.'_

"Oh Yami! Please help me!" Tea whimpered as Darrin tilted her head back and drummed his claws rather disinterested across her throat.

"TEA NO!!"

'_Yep…' _Yugi thought as he watched Yami running backwards over the board towards Tea and equally to Yugi's demise_, 'we never stood a chance in hell.'_

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Nero had never been a great fan of physical coercion. Not that he'd had much experience to apply his Will on anyone, being an angel student, but even so, fighting had never appealed to him.

That being said Nero was not a wuss. Sure he looked about as lethal as a marshmallow peep on a sidewalk in July but he was a denizen of Heaven, a chalice for the power of the All-Mighty and if he simply prayed for help he could bench-press a bus filled with obese kindergarteners.

Still, as Nero straddled Nizuki's shoulders holding the female-angel face-down in the dirt to keep her from doing anything monstrously stupid, the little angel wished he had studied just a little harder in his Immortal Combat Class.

"T-that little…little witch!" Nizuki hissed into the grimy ground, her eyes burning with such heavenly indignity that they were actually melting the ground she stared at. "She's going to mess everything up! Why does she never think twice about running into danger!!"

"Nizuki-nee! Faith! Faith will keep our friends safe even if shadow-stained Gardener lady interrupts the Demon's Game," Nero scolded righteously from Nizuki's back.

He had been deep in prayer when Tea Gardener had come whirling into the alley like she was being pulled by invisible strings.

Nizuki had tried to meet her head on and turn the girl around but Tea had pulled a sinister trick, grabbing the Millennium Ring out of Nero's hands and swinging it at Nizuki's face.

Nizuki had naturally reacted badly to the shadow-magic within the item and collapsed to the ground. Before the angel could recover Tea had rushed past and charged right through the shadow-seal holding the game within the confines of the old warehouse as if the magic was not even there.

"I KNOW FAITH WILL LOOK AFTER THEM!" Nizuki howled in rage, "OF COURSE I KNOW THAT, I'M AN ANGEL TOO AREN'T I?"

Nero quirked an eyebrow at that strong reaction but didn't comment on it. He was an extension of Heavenly Will –even though he didn't often feel strong enough for such a connection—and so he knew that if he needed to hear something from his onee-chan, or know something, he would learn of it.

"Calm down onee-chan," Nero cooed gently. "Is all right."

"No…No Nero…nothing is alright," Nizuki hissed. She then did something that Nero had never, in the thousands of years he had known her, seen her do.

Nizuki began to sob and her emptiness echoed up into Nero's empathic heart like the sharp pounding of a hammer.

"NizukI! You…you're not…"

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Bakura was not the direct leader type. He'd learned pretty quickly that manipulating events through others was a hell of a lot easier than putting yourself on a damn pedestal where any shmuck could take a shot at you.

Bakura was not a team-player either. Manipulation of another was one thing, but partnerships were a lot harder to deal with. You had to trust the other person, first of all, and if things went to hell then you had to deal with the possibility of having another person's blood on your hands.

Bakrua had never really allowed himself to care about people, Ryou included, enough that he could develop anything more than King-to-Pawn relationships.

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, when Bakura saw Yami losing his edge because his 'concubine' so blatantly threw herself into danger, the former King of Thieves just felt he had to take charge and keep things going. What's more the impulse to take point was so complete that when he DID give his orders the others, who had no reason to trust him beyond the fact they were all fighting for Ryou, listened to him implicitly.

"Wheeler! Pin that idiot down before he loses the game for us!" Bakura yelled.

Darrin had said so long as one of them reached Ryou on the scaffold all of their souls were safe, but Bakura got the distinct unsettling feeling that the opposite was true as well. If any of them retreated off the bride to where Yugi stood in chains then the demons could devour them.

Joey shook himself out of his snake-illusion daze and almost mechanically tackled Yami to the ground, hooking his elbows and knees into iron-grips around the ex-pharaoh's limbs like ti was second-nature to him.

"I got 'em!" Joey called out, barely audible over Yami's blood-curdling screams.

Bakura ignored the noise and turned back to glower upwards at Trika on her skeleton throne.

"Okay you firefly from Hell, what in God's name are you playing at? How the hell did the _cheerleader_ get through the seal of the building?"

Trika only gave Bakura an infuriatingly perky grin, and remained seated on her throne twirling her fuchsia-tipped hair around her poisoned claws.

Bakura almost started to cuss when a sudden realization hit him between the eyes.

"She's here…because…because you called her here?"

"What are you talking about, Bakura?" Yugi rasped; his voice strained as Yami's retreat had reacted with his chains, causing the phantom-metal to cut painfully into his diaphragm. If it hadn't been for his lessons with the karaoke club Yugi wouldn't have been able to speak at all.

Bakura felt a weird empathic pride that the hikari still managed to broadcast a simply concern through his voice though his heart was probably wailing in terror within his chest. The thief shook his head against the feeling and answered the question Yugi had called out.

"Zubarro TOLD US outright that he and his bat-winged bimbo could call in outsiders to this fight. Specifically he said they could call in 'people already loyal to them.' Tea couldn't have come through the seal if she wasn't called, therefore Tea has gotta be in league with the demons."

"I'LL KILL YOU FOR SAYING THAT, KAMENWATI!!" Yami howled venomously from within Joey's grip.

Bakura jolted in surprise for a moment at hearing his actual name come of Yami's lips –he had thought the pharaoh had even known it—then yelled right back; "IF IT WEREN'T TRUE ZUBARRO WOULD HAVE SLASHED HER THROAT AND BEEN DONE WITH IT ALREADY!"

An eerie silence, in an already all too eerie place, descended upon the group and all eyes shifted to focus on Darrin who's taloned fingers remained poised against Tea's delicate neck.

"…You're quite the sharp one, aren't you, Bakura," Darrin finally grinned, lowering his arm and stepping away from his staged victim without any real emotion at all.

"N-No," Yami croaked in disbelief.

Tea bowed her head for an elongated minute…and then raised it again with an unusual snap. Her eyes burned unnaturally silver in the gloom.

"Yes koibito…I have been in league with the demons…for about four months."

"Shit!" Joey gasped, nearly dropping Yami in his surprise –not that it would have mattered at this point--. "That means that Yami was never honestly datin' you…he was datin' a demon-pest!"

"I did what I had to," Tea said firmly. She looked like Delilah might have looked standing before the blinded and betrayed Samson. A proper look for a traitor of biblical scale.

Again a sort of weird empathy overtook Bakura's sense and mind. This time it was directed at the pharaoh. He could almost imagine he could hear Yami's world shattering around the man's ears.

"Well…fuck," Bakura commented blankly.

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"Nizuki-nee…you are not…illuminated anymore," Nero said hesitantly, afraid he might say something that might hurt the blonde angel even worse than she apparently was. "I not understand how but…is like you have…light hanging on you but not inside…is this…is this your shadow allergy…doing this?"

Instead of getting upset Nizuki seemed to get calmer. Her body went as still as stone underneath Nero's weight and her tears dried across her cheeks.

"No…it's not my shadow allergy…I don't have a shadow allergy…not really…I have magical scars across my spirit form…and all because I was stupid enough to try for a little heavenly intervention."

Nero shuddered and scooted off Nizuki's back. For some reason he got a really, really bad feeling whatever his onee-chan was about to say would bear no good to his Yugi-sama.

"Nizuki-nee…please…what are you talking about?"

Nizuki rose to her knees still looking as empty as a porcelain doll. She smiled meekly and raised her fingers to her ear-cuff.

"Perhaps I should explain."

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"Love is so amazingly dangerous," Darrin spoke with a stony scholastic disconnect. His voice sounded even steelier in that it interrupted the agonizing tension growing between Tea and the other mortals involved. "For a single taste of its sweet nectar mortals and immortals alike are willing to abandon their homes, their worlds…even abandon their celestial love to God. I must confess that before my mistress took the bounty out of the Lights of the Sennen I had never believed in its power to damn souls. Tea holds the first incubus charm I eve wove and even I have to admit it is a faulty charm at that."

Darrin paused to take a breath and as he did so he shifted his fire-bright eyes onto Yugi, burrowing into the hikari with a strange desperation that would undoubtedly have pitched Nizuki into a cuff-rubbing fit if she had seen it.

"The charm is so weak that its holder has to be in close-proximity to its target at all times or else it will fail to truly work. An absence of physical contact leaves only residual feelings of guilt and self-imposed loyalty on the target…but no passion or affection.

"The charm also warps the holder's mind creating dark longing for even more power leading to unwise wages and a taste for shadows and danger."

Yugi gasped as many missing pieces of Tea's and Yami's relationship suddenly fell into place. All those times Yami and Yugi had been alone…Yami HAD wanted to be with Yugi!

Just that little spark of hope ballooned so large in Yugi's chest he feared he might burst.

Darrin's face seemed to tip ever so slightly into shades of relief before he turned to Bakura and all emotion faded as if Yugi had only dreamed it existed at all.

"Ryou's spell is MUCH stronger. He is enthralled as well as bespelled. He needs faith something fierce but he has only my love…it is such an easy mistake to confuse the two but it is one that so few people can recognize and overcome."

Bakura, at first, seemed to flinch at Darrin's comments as if the word 'faith' was as toxic to him as to a denizen of Hell. But then an unhappy yet determined scowl took its place and Bakura titled his head up arrogantly.

"You're not just talking about religion…are you?" the ex-thief stared down the demon.

"Yes and no," Darrin shrugged easily. "Faith is a pillar of religion but it is also found outside the church walls in any good heart…as you perhaps know firsthand?"

Bakura opened his mouth to question that but before a single sound could escape his throat Trika sent a barrage of skulls down on her partner, taking away any chance at further conversation.

"_Me jugate_ are you going to teach a lecture on _Dios in Vita_ or are you going to help me harvest souls?!" The demoness shrieked.

"My apologizes miss," Zubarro bowed formally, deep bruises now littered across his upper body and two claws snapped out of place. "Shall I continue with my threats against the girl?

"No! _E__estúpido _we cannot touch one of our own! Just get back up here and stay put!" Trika stomped her boots on the scaffolding meaningfully.

Zubarro bowed again and in a shimmer of heat was back again kneeling between his mistress and his mark.

"ALRIGHT YOU LITTLE BOYAS ! GAME IS STILL ON! MAKE A MOVE OR I WILL CULL YOUR ALL!!"

"…My move then," Bakura grinned. For once Yugi felt confidence from that grin rather than dread.

"Oh ya," the now hope filled hikari grinned, "game on."

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Nizuki was now sitting against the warehouse wall her wings curled protectively around her shoulders.

For once Nero couldn't see any of the brilliant fire of his sister guardian…only an almost human young female filled with exhaustion and regret. Nero had never thought an angel could feel those sensations. He certainly didn't. Maybe sadness, pain and lack of confidence but never exhaustion…never regret.

"I used to be a much more brilliant angel than I am now," Nizuki sighed. "I was a true hand of Him, all glory and hope and flame…but then I did something stupid…monumentally stupid…and I sulled my spirit and lost my wings."

Nero shuddered but nodded; "Nero think he remember story. Nizuki-nee try and help dark old soul and was then blasted by shadows."

"…I'm so much more human now, Nero," Nizuki grimaced as if admitting some unsavory defect. "I have spiritual dimensions that no other angel has: impatience, surprise, stubbornness, remorse, grief, regret…and dislike. I've covered these faults with determination and tactics but the problem still remains…I should not have intervened as I did…not in such a way."

"Onee-chan," Nero titled his head curiously to one side. "What you trying to say?"

"I'm saying," Nizuki buried her face in her hands, "I do not believe that Bakura will be able to handle this duel…I'm saying I do not believe we can trust him to call on us to recover from this error…I believe this…because HE was the one who ruined my angel nature."

"W-what?" Nero chocked.

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Bakura could feel a nasty hysterical laugh building in his chest as he reached the end of the game-board and stared hopelessly up at the ladder to the scaffold. It was a prickly sensation but he knew it would only freak him already panicked team-mates to hear him chortle so he held the laughter down.

Faith. Bakura had to use 'faith' to restore his hikari. If that wasn't irony nothing was. Bakura was a self-governed sinner who didn't particularly give a damn whether or not he scattered a few souls in his quest for power. He'd never allowed himself the comfort of thinking an angel might be looking out for his pitiful soul or that he even HAD a soul! And now he was supposed to restore faith to Ryou's angel-loving, all-embracing, spiritual-focused little soul. It was hilarious. Particularly when he thought of how utterly ruthless hed been to the angel his hikari called his own.

Bakrua hadn't remembered her at first. His memory was a little flaky what with a few hundred lifetime's of thought sloshing around in his too often inebriated skull. It'd only been during his night alone with Nizuki, on the eve of battle, that he'd remembered her. When he'd remembered what her role had been in his life before Ryou and how he'd sinned a darker sin than he'd ever done before.

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"I was supposed to be a simple guardian for one of Bakura's hosts," Nizuki confessed, her eyes vague and unfocused with memory. "Torrance Tygrist, age 22-years, occupation/Talent, Painter, city of choice, Paris…he was supposed to be my new case. I'd led my latest up to His Presence and I was so certain I'd be able to lead Tygris as well…I…I hadn't expected to encounter the Ring…I hadn't expected to be pulled into Tygris' constant battles with the Spirit of The Millennium Ring of Kul-Elna…and…

"It is not allowed. Eternals and the items don't mix! Shadow Alchemy is an abominable art that neither side will practice for both sides suffer. I knew that, I did and yet…when Bakura… no when Kamenwati said he might know of a way to split his spirit from Tygris and end both of their unhappiness…I leapt at the opportunity.

"But it went wrong, so horribly, horribly wrong. Kamenwati believed it would work, I had faith in my purpose but Torri …my dear little Torri…I hadn't instilled enough trust, enough faith and when the shadows got scent of his hesitation everything tore loose! Bakura's soul was harbor to the seeds of a shadow-demon, Zorc the Spirit of Wrathful Vengence, and the shadows made that seed blossom so that any true choices were stripped from Kamenwati for his future. I lost my wings in the assault, the shadows devouring each and every feather with relish and Torri…Torri lost his mind…he…he assaulted my broken body tearing into me and …and the Ring he tossed to the bottom of the river to damn Bakura forever and….it just went so wrong!!"

Nero could feel the pain rolling off Nizuki in waves, his empathy powers nearly short-circuiting in the deluge.

'_What can Nero do…what can an unlicensed student of guardianship do in the fae of such deep darkness?' _Nero thought to himself_, 'What can I do?'_

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"What can I do?" Bakura groaned.

"BAKURA!" Yugi yelled, causing Bakura to whirl around in panic. But instead of seeing Yami plunging off the game-board like an idiot or any of the hundreds of other stupid demon-oriented things he expected to see Bakura was ground to a halt by the hikari's hauntingly purple eyes.

"Bakura, don't you DARE think this is hopeless!" Yugi yelled, even though there was a tremble of hesitance in his own words. "This is just another illusion, like those snakes, like Tea, like everything! Come on! You nearly managed to topple an Egyptian dynasty single-handed! One stupid ladder can't be harder than that!"

Something about the boy's words, his vigor or maybe his praise, made Bakura feel unbelievably flustered. It made him think of Ryou and how admiring th boy had always been towards Bakura's every little victory over his technology handicap. It made him think of Nizuki and how she'd grinned in praise after Bakura managed to go a week without booze by his own volition. And even stranger it reminded him of himself, how he used to be so proud of his simplest of heists.

As Bakrua was thinking this he felt the plank beneath his feet jerk upward by just a quarter of an inch.

"Holy...that's it," Bakura gasped, "that's it! That's BEEN it from the beginning!"

Across the room Yugi noticed Bakura's grin and he sighed in relief. Yugi hadn't been sure he could get Bakrua to notice the same thing he had.

Somewhere, between Bakura's stubborn declaration to win on his own and seeing Yami go to piece about Tea, the Prince fo Games –though now Yugi figured he'd re-earned his King title—had noticed that for every turn in emotion the game board shifted. When the players held faith in each other, or felt faithful determination at winning back Ryou' soul the board would rise. Whenever one of them felt scared or angry or even unconfident the board sank. The snake weights had never had anything to do with it.

Just like in the original shadow games the true challenge was towards the spirit not the body at all.

"Hey, iwiw!" Bakura laughed, "I know how to get us out of here!"

Just the confidence in the words alone caused the plank to rise a whole inch,

"Y-You do?" Joey sighed. "Good God, I'm glad someone does cuz my body is getting' achy holdin' Yami back."

"NO!" Trika snarled from above. "There is no way to win! Ryou's soul belongs to us! Even if you got it back he'd be hopelessly addicted to incubus! You can't win!!"

Bakura just turned and gave the fiend his most conniving grin, the one that had made a whole troop of city guards retreat without a fight when Bakura had been first alive.

"Listen you squawking silicone-centered doughnut," the thief king glowered, "I've survived worse things than you and with less help than now. I've wormed my way out of a hundred prisons and even more impressively I've survived that bird-woman for a month while you took my natural soul's light away. Compared to all that your stupid challenge is nothing. I AM going to get my other-half back from you and I'm going to protect him from ever falling for bat-wingers ever again…don't you even dare question THAT or I might just call in a little haven's flame to kick your corrupted ass."

Trika seemed to shudder under Bakrua's gaze while Darrin seemed to smile in bitter amusement. But what really showed that Bakura's words had struck a nerve was when Ryou lethargically raised his head and muttered; "way…go…Bakura."

For the first time in the last twenty-four and some hours Yugi felt a smile overcome him.

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Nero leapt to his feet with determination pulsing through his every vein. He was suddenly conscious of the answer and certain of his success. It was almost as if something had jump-started his soul so it crackled anew with Heavenly Will.

"Is a way to fight this nee-chan! Bakura gave us his trust with the Ring, and even now I feel his heart-beat so strong in the darkness! We is angels and that trust is all we need…sometimes it just…hard to remember that."

Nizuki looked at Nero was such a doubtful expression that Nero's one good wing started to wilt depressed…but then he caught a glimpse of Nizuki's eyes and smiled.

The angel was certainly want for her usual typhoon of strength but that didn't mean her spirit wasn't still up to making a tiny squall.

"So what exactly did you have in mind, Nero?"

Nero puffed up his chest, filled once more with the confidence his external age portrayed. His emerald eyes hummed with energy as his unquestioned confidence fed his powers.

"I think Nee-chan we should combine soul and then, as you so fond of, knock around some demon heads!"

For the briefest of seconds Nero thought he'd lost Nizuki again. For about a tenth of a second Nizuki looked too horrified of the idea, to ashamed to ever be recovered. But then some spark, perhaps her own faded purely angelic nature roared from deep below and caused the angel to surge to her feet.

"Combine souls, like Yami and Yugi combine to become Yu-Gi-Oh…it was staring us right in the face and yet we didn't think of it! Nero, forget about being ready to pass the official test, you are the genuine article in my book! Let's do it!" Nizuki whooped.

Nero smiled brilliantly and for once this gloomy little part of Domino seemed to bathe in radiant sunshine.

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Just because they figured out how to move the ladder didn't make the task easy. Yami was nothing but dead-weight with his gloomy thoughts but Joey and Bakura had a fair amount of memories to bolster them.

Bakura flickered through every good memory he'd shared with his hosts for the thousands of years he'd skulked across the earth. He remembered his first taste of candy, a sugared-orange sherbet for a French royal. He remembered when his Ring had been pasted to a female host and he'd gotten a taste of a mother's love for her infant. He remembered Egypt and how before he'd had the muscle to attack the palace he'd hung around with other street-urchins and a few outlaw shadow-duelists and how they'd celebrated each night with song, happy to have made it through another day alive.

Bakura remembered the taste of rain after his Ring being hitched to the back of a messenger pony traveling across the old American West and how every droplet had tasted like pure life.

He focused on every good experience that he had so callously overlooked the first time he'd been there to experience them.

Joey didn't focus on the past. He put all his emotions into the future. He imagined getting out of this game and talking to Yugi, getting back that closer-than-brothers bond he'd snubbed for stupid reasons. He imagined going back to Domino and graduating, seeing all those nasty teachers that had never thought a street-punk like him would really graduate watching his get his diploma with distaste. He imagined buying his very own apartment, filling it with his very own furniture and inviting Serenity to stay the night without shame.

Joey imagined the lovers that he had yet to meet, and the triumphs he had yet to achieve and more far-distantly he imagined one day finding a way to get along with Kaiba…of being the once who broke that ice-wall the boy always held and filling him with light so that the snake's illusion would be an absurd impossibility.

Both men thought and felt and believed until they were afraid they'd strain something inside, or that they'd run into such a natural high that they'd forget there was even a game going on. They concentrated harder than they ever had…and slowly the plank rose and rose until Bakura's boots were level with the bottom rung of that damn ladder.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Trika yelled.

Bakura leapt onto the metal and the plank sagged back down, unable to hold its new height with only one happy mind.

"Hell yes," the thief sneered. "I told you I was coming for you. Better unchain Ryou now so there is no time or magic wasted."

Trika shook her head furiously, her claws yanking unmercifully at her hair. She then whipped around to glower at her partner, who was actually doing as Bakura had suggested.

"TRAITOR!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"They've won mistress," Darrin shrugged. "We did all we could now we must honor our promise."

"Never!" Trika howled, slashing Darrin full across the face with her nails, nearly sending the incubus off the edge of the scaffolding. "I will never do that! And how dare you suggest we lose! I bought you from the bazaars in Hell to win me souls! I own your damnation contract and therefore own you! If I say you are to keep that damn albino's soul you are to keep it!!"

Darrin wheezed, poison curdling his blood even as it tried to flow through the lacerations in his skin.

"M-Mistress…y-you…cannot…" he chocked pulling the clay-bottle holding Ryou's soul tightly in his fist. "I cannot…I cannot allow you to."

Trika was beyond reason now, not that she'd been that closely related to rationality in the first place. The succubus's eyes were now pure scarlet, pupil to white. The beautiful skin she was so proud of cracked under the pressure of her demon aura, revealing the pulsating wet gray flesh of her true form. Her wings stretched out further glowing hard blue light and her claws began to drip thick droplets of yellow poison onto the ground.

"We cannot lose! I have done too much to get where I am and I'm never going back to that! I'm not some stupid little girl who thinks love will rescue her anymore! I'm stronger now! Aren't I strong? Aren't you terrified of me?"

Bakura was still fighting with the smaller imps, who seemed more interested in casting the illusion of burning skin than really trying to do any physical damage. He was only about three rungs up on the ladder but he could still hear everything from above and he could still react to the demonic aura with a swoon of shadow-addicted longing.

"Damn it," Bakura shook his head fervently; "I thought I'd finished with that!"

The pain didn't bother him. Pain never really bothered Bakura anymore until he was at the point of nearly dying. But this unsteady sweltering heat from within was distracting and the more Bakura tried to fight against it the more it hurt.

"Three thousand freaking years and I'm still the damn kid possessed by ghosts," Bakura muttered in annoyance as he reached for the next wrung. He began shifting his weight to the other hand when suddenly an inhumane howl and a tsunami of shadows came rolling down from above and Bakura really lost it.

He tried catching himself, tried calling up to Ryou to ask for help, but none of that worked. Even if Ryou was waking up the poor kid was too weak to help.

Bakura clenched his eyes shut; not wanting to see his grisly demise….when suddenly a pair of warm hands caught him by the shoulders.

"R-Ryou?" Bakura nervously cracked open one eye.

"Not quite," the angel smiled back at him.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND**

**Jason and Super Muse: dancing and singing Shuichi Shindo style **Masaka 's getting better, she's better, she's better, Masaka 's getting better!

**Yami Masaka: **REVIEW QUIETLY DAMN IT!!

shadow-demon: not related to demons they are creatures left over from the beginning of the world that seriously hate just about everything they come in contact with

damnation-contract: when a human is accosted by a daimon they are given one of two choices A.) loss their soul the traditional way and broil in Hell or B.) bind themselves to their daimon creator and become a lesser denizen of darkness called a demon. Both Trika and Darrin are demons while Darrin's original creator was a daimon. That does not mean that demons cannot create demons, only that they are very rarely given the chance. Darrin's last name is bound up on that contract and without it he has no real control over what he does. However as Darrin was created to be a contract-writing demon he can find loop-holes around every order

**Jason:** See ya next time!!


	40. Chapter 42 Readmitted

Both: Sorry, sorry, sorry misplaced this chapter!!

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When two angels combined their power it is as if a whole new angel has come into being. Their forms blend and their personalities momentarily meld. So it was that THIS angel was like Nero and Nizuki's progeny. (A/N: Which would be gross. No angel-shipping please!) The shared form had Nizuki's long blonde-red hair, her height and fiery aura but also had Nero's features and gestures.

Bakura choked slightly in disbelief while this combined divinity gently carried him up and landed daintily on the demon's platform.

"Really now Baku-boku, is that anyway to look after you've been rescued?" the angel chuckled.

"Ni…zu…what-" Bakura continued to choke.

"Nero, is that you?" Yugi yelped from below.

"Nope, nope, nope," the angel giggled.

"I-it's an ephemeral angel," Darrin spoke, breaking from his standoff with the still transforming Trika, thus scaring the bejeesus out of everyone.

"A-a wh-what?" Bakura recovered fastest.

"…A temporary angel, who exists only so long as two of the heavenly body agree to combine their wills and wings," the swollen-faced incubus explained. "I am only hypothesizing but I believe this was done to overcome the shadow-seal. Alone, Nero was too weak and Nizuki too vulnerable to overcome it but combine their potential is unlimited; it's a temporary promotion from guardian to avenger class if you will."

A long moment of silence followed that statement as the poor already overdrawn mortals tried to wrap their minds around one more impossible idea.

"…Uh…scary dude?" Joey spoke up first, "Uh…just ta be clear…you ain't angelic…right? So why do ya know so much about angels?"

For the first time in this entire affair Zubarro's face actually broke into a real emotion-filled expression. The incubus's face turned pink and his shoulders arched self-consciously up to his ears.

"I um…I was always interested in angels and well…after I first Fell…my master taught me all about the Heavenly Body to …to cement my damned state into my mind."

"Ah…okay," Joey nodded, though his eyes seemed to be a bit glazed.

"Since you know so much…" the angel smiled, holding its hand out expectantly.

"Ah! Oh y-yes," Zubarro held out the soul-jar to the heavenly one's outstretched hand.

Unfortunately it seemed the gesture was all it took to wake the transfigured Trika from her daze.

"I TOLD YOU NO!" the gray-beast hissed through six-rows of hideous fangs.

She, or rather it because at this point of transformation there was little femininity left in the succubus, smacked Zubarro across the face sending the man to his knees and knocking the soul-jar into the air.

"AHHHH! HOLY SHIT!" Bakrua dove at the jar, catching it a split-second before it hit the ground.

"Nice catch," the angel clapped.

"WHAT THE HELL? WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HER?" Bakura snapped irritably as he scrambled to his feet, the soul-jar held almost unconsciously against his own heart.

"Huh, you mean Final Boss-san?" the angel pointed at Trika. It was an odd expression but given the circumstances it somehow fit.

"YES!" Bakura wailed.

"But, you see, Darrin Zub-"

"J-just Darrin," the incubus coughed from the ground. "Zubarro…i-is my human sponsor's name…n-not mine."

"Yes, Darrin No-Surname is Trika's property; I have no direct authority over their interactions," the angel shrugged calmly but not without empathy.

'Then why the HELL did you even come in here?" the group of humans (sans Ryou) yelled.

"Trika will be stopped from attacking the victorious humans," the angel shrugged as if it should have been obvious.

Bakura muttered some unrepeatable blasphemies under his breath as he got to his feet. Meanwhile Darrin moaned miserably behind him as his 'mistress' began to squeeze the air out of his throat. Bakura wasn't sure if he was quite ready to feel sorry for the fake-lover boy just yet.

Darrin was definitely the demon he preferred in all this nonsense. The guy had a sense of honor at least. But the guy HAD taken Ryou from him and snuck his spunk down Bakura's throat so that he went bezerk.

Shaking off the confusion for the moment Bakura turned his focus to the little clay-jar in his hands. It felt surprisingly soft for something made of such a grainy material and he could swear it had gotten warmer just by his holding it.

"Uncap the bottle and Ryou Bakura's soul will return to its mortal frame," the angel instructed, breaking Bakura from his thoughts.

"DO IT AND DIE!" Trika howled, her claws sinking deeper into Darrin's neck as a result.

"Shut up Missy Scary Used-Gum Face!" the angel replied with a very mature and threatening raspberry. (A/N: Nyah-nyah! Sheesh Nero really can't be threatening…even his parentage makes other angels unable to be threatening. Silly little marshmallow boy.)

"That's it," Bakura held his aching head against the pounding irritated headache that was now growing there. "You two are NEVER to combine again."

He then turned to his duty and let the two immortal beings continue glowering at one another.

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Ryou's eyelids fluttered a few times and a slight groan escaped his lips.

Like coming out of a long sleep, comprehension came back to the hikari in slow, progressive drifts. First he began distinguishing shapes in the darkness, then colors, then finally complete objects.

And the first object before him was enough to jolt Ryou's whole body back into full consciousness.

"B-Bakura, what are you doing here? What did you do with Zubarro-sempai? What's going on?"

With his heart pounding so loudly in his ears Ryou was having a bit of trouble hearing but he would have sworn just then the Egyptian muttered: "crap, it's like the last two weeks never happened."

Feeling a little braver now that nothing had threatened to choke him to death, Ryou started to take in the rest of his surroundings, though he really couldn't make heads or tails of most of it.

"What…what's happening?" he whimpered.

Bakrua chuckled in a strange almost light-hearted way and brushed his strangely sweaty and mussed hair away from his face, flashing a very familiar series of raw and bleeding scratched across the left-side of his face. "Ah now THAT is a long conversation…um if I used our mind-link I could-"

"N-NO!" Ryou yelped.

"Hey now!" Bakura seemed to pout. "There is no need to be hostile. I never figured out the whole soul-room thing enough to do anything more than lock away my own presence. It's not like I ever had any interest in mental conquest! I can't do anything to you!"

"How could you not know all about it? You spent 3000 years sealed inside of it!" Ryou glowered at the other suspiciously.

"Ah…well, yes I did and…err this is another long conversation that we have even less time for than the last one you brought up and-"

"B-Bakura, please, tell me where Zubarro is? Just please let me know he's okay and I'll do whatever you want," Ryou whimpered.

Bakura winced and the slashes across his face (A/N: imp inflicted by the way) drizzled blood over his cheek like a curtain of crimson tears.

"Crap, you're not making this easy and I'm not like Yugi, so I can't be nice about it," Bakura frowned. "Um…okay…oh hell just look over there."

Ryou turned slightly to the left, his eyes following in the direction Bakura had pointed out. He caught sight of what was going on at the other side of the platform and he gasped.

"DARRIN! NO!" Ryou yelled.

The incubus hanging limply from Trika's claws looked up at the sound and instinctually put on a grin.

"Oh ah…hi Ryou…um, ya I'm a demon. You just go with Bakura there, okay? I'll be fine."

"B-But Darrin! You! How! I thought! You told me!" Ryou wheezed miserably as Bakura worked at the chains to get his hikari free. Strangely the tomb-robber seemed to be working just as hard at keeping his eyes away from Ryou as he was working on the lock.

"Um no…whatever I said …and did…that was an act. This is me," the incubus flushed, though his coloring was so off from the poison it was hard to tell. "So…really…don't worry. There is nothing here for you…just go."

"BUT I LOVE YOU!" Ryou wailed. "I-I LOVE YOU AND-"

"And that was trick," Trika hissed, her language-skills deteriorated by her new state. "But is good one, no? Worth your soul to keep?"

"Shut you filthy mouth demon," the angel sneered, moving to stand between Ryou and the succubus. "You can't double-dip on this kind of soul-snatching attempt and you know it. Your chances at Ryou's soul have ended."

"Yes, Ryou has soul, group won, but if Ryou give up soul again, before leave, then it mine," Trika snickered.

"Oh FUCK no! I'm the one who is hell-bound, not Ryou!" Bakura snarled, snapping the lock opened then pushing the boy protectively behind him. "You aren't tricking my hikari into polluting his love with some made up sin! I don't give a DAMN what ANY of you say! Ryou's love is not blasphemous, or sinful. It's the purest thing in the world to want to give yourself to someone! It means you care enough that you'll give yourself over to all the darkness in the world, just so you have a chance at taking that person to Heaven! It's nothing you could pollute! If Ryou really does l…" Bakrua winced and shook his head, "love Darrin then Darrin in saved. Love uplifts! You gum-faced bitch and that pollute whelp Tea have both called lust and possession by the name love but that is wrong and enough is ENOUGH!!"

As Bakura's voice rang throughout the warehouse a strange calm settled over everything, like a moment of peace at the end of a typhoon.

"Well shadow-blast me again," the angel snickered again. "You actually figured it out. Now THAT was a surprise. I figured it would be Yugi who gave me this freedom. I'm proud of your progress Baku-boku."

"Say what?" Bakura blushed.

"You said it, love uplifts," the angel strolled up to the still struggling demon pair. "As long as SOMEONE recognized that, I'm able to over this."

With a swish of the hand the angel pulled a blackened roll of parchment from Trika's tattered garments.

"That's mine feather-back!" the succubus roared, letting go of her treaterous property to lunge at the angel.

Nero and Nizuki's combined form easily side stepped the assault and tauntingly shook a finger at the creature.

"Noooo, you see THIS is Darrin's," the angel grinned. "His damnation contract was only yours because no one had put a higher bid in for it…but then Ry-Ry came along and offered all his loving for it. Thus it is Darrin's again, because Ryou's love bought it…and turned it over to the one he loved."

The angel then turned to Darrin, who was looking a little shell-shocked, himself.

"So…what do you want to do with it, Mister In-the-free-and-clear?"

"I…I can…decide?" Darrin asked hesitantly, his eyes staring at the paper in an almost hunger.

"Choose wisely," the angel smiled gravely.

"C-could…you…a-am I…am I really allowed to rip it up…y-you know…give all the power back?" the man now trembled, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"NO!" Trika snarled.

"Silver clouds yes," the angel grinned as he grabbed two sides of the paper and pulled.

INTERRUPTIONINTERRUPTIONINTERRUPTIONINTERRUPTIONINTERRUPTION

Masaka: Normally I had planned to stop here but…

Yami Masaka: WE WANT THIS GAME OVER WITH SO YOU PEOPLE CAN GET YOUR BISHIE-LOVE FIX BACK!!

Masaka: …as always yami you answer with way too much enthusiasm. Anyway, this is Darrin's big moment so be on the lookout for him in his nice new state!

ENDINTERRUPTIONENDINTERRUPTIONENDINTERRUPTIONENDINTERRUPTION

It is not impossible for a demon to get salvation. They, unlike their more powerful brethren the daemons, were given a pardon from above. They were humans, and got a small hint of what the Mercy of Heaven was like.

That being said, it is not a common event for a Fallen human to be redeemed. Fallen ones usually Fall on purpose, filled to the brim with resentment and pride.

So when Darrin's contract was torn up and his soul returned for a second-chance at Heaven, a great deal more happened than you'll ever see at your average baptism or bar mitvah.

(A/N: I know bar mitvah is a weird example but hey, adulthood in the church is a big spiritual deal that IS a Heaven-bound path so just deal with it!)

A rush of light erupted all around the reclaimed man as a thousand lower-level angels turned from their nature-tending duties to sing a glory to God and welcome home to Darrin.

The light then bashed against every demonic element in the building, which was just about everything, instantly purifying it. Trika's dark-form shriveled and the succubus fell back into her weaker human-form, shrieking and screaming. Even Tea's charm shattered, causing the girl to yelp and rub her re-colored eyes.

Darrin, himself, jerked in mid-air as a plume of fire rushed out of his body and his demon attributes faded away like a nightmare slides away from dawn.

When the very last illusion faded from Darrin's eyes all of Darrin's other spells began to vanish. The hikari's chains turned to smoke and the floor closed itself up over the Hell's mouth.

Darrin's familiar, the little rose that had been wilting more and more under Trika's grasp, burst out from its plant-jar behind Trika's throne, in its spirit-shape. The little petal-hair girl rushed over to Darrin and began singing a little Faey ditty of its own, not anywhere near the angel's power but still enough to demonstrate how happy the rose was to not be demonic anymore.

And the final thing that happened was that Nizuki and Nero divided apart, no longer needed to be one now that the shadow-seal was gone.

"It's over!" Nizuki wheezed, collapsing to her knees in exhaustion. "Finally it's all over."

"Ah! Nero feels so good now!" Nero said as he leapt into the air, doing a little aerial summersault.

"Of course you feel better, brat, you took some of my energy when you left. If you haven't noticed your wing is healed," Nizuki shook her head in tired humor before getting shakily to her legs.

The she-angel patted some dust off her robes and brushed the hair out of her eyes then marched over to where Darrin sat, tears rolling down from his now green eyes.

"What's up super-baka? You okay now?" she asked with her usual lack of tact.

"I-I don't…I don't know…I mean …am…am I?"

"You're a Purgatory client now, bub. Like AA for the formerly befouled, you've got a chance to make up for your icky ways. Congratulations," Nizuki smirked, not unkindly.

Darrin whimpered with a bittersweet joy and dropped his head in his Familiar's hair to start weeping.

Nizuki rolled her eyes at the reaction but patted the man's back sweetly before strolling past him to where her dumbstruck protectorate and his equally stupefied dark-side were sitting.

"How are you two doing?"

"T-the air…tu-turned into a flock of angels a-and…I think God flicked on a flash-bulb cuz everything got really bright," Ryou mumbled incoherently.

"I think I just got impaled by a solar-beam," Bakura tacked on weakly as he wonderingly rubbed his cheek, which had gotten healed in the blast of holy-light.

"Ah! Good!" Nizuki clapped her hands together as if these responses were normal. "You're both okay then."

Nero finished his little gymnastic routine and after taking a precautionary look at the collapsed and sobbing succubus, Trika, to make sure she was really down and out he leapt off the balcony and swooped down to give Yugi-sama a long overdue cuddle.

"My brave, brave, brave Yugi-sama is all safe! Oh I so happy!"

"Uh N-Nero I'm…happy…too…but…need…air," Yugi choked. Nero eeped slightly and backed off, landing for the first time since he'd parted from Nizuki.

The hikari took a greedy gulp of air then turned his attention to the cherub. He looked at the now dazzling pair of blemish free wings on the little one's back and smiled a bittersweet smile.

"Looks like you can go home now, Nero," Yugi sighed.

"Not until I finished with this Yugi-sama," Nero frowned gently looking over his shoulder at where Yami was standing; now looking at Tea without the glamour.

Yugi felt his heart jerk with pain at the heart-broken expression on his other's face. Luckily he didn't have time to get too depressed when Joey tackled him and pulled him up off the ground in a near bone-breaking hug.

"WE DID IT! HOLY CRAP THAT FELT AMAZING! I mean Yugi! We stood our own against demons! DEMONS!! That's like Yami Marik times a hundred!" the blonde cheered enthusiastically, infecting Yugi with his good humor immediately.

"No way! Yami Marik isn't even in the same ball-park!" Yugi laughed. "We are the ULTIMATE Kings of Games now!"

"You and Yami are King…eh I'll take the position of Majorly Awesome Knight of the Land of Almighty Joey-Coolness," the blonde put Yugi down and struck a silly pose.

"Knights are at the lowest rung of nobility, you moron! They're right below courtiers!" Bakura yelled from the podium.

"Hey! Shut up! You're ruining the moment!" Joey snorted. He then blinked and winched trying to get a better look at the other. "Hey Bakura…did your scars come back?"

The white-haired Egyptian slapped the side of his face with embarrassment. He'd never liked his old scars. They'd actually come from rather stupid, totally unromantic accidents during his first life.

That damn cat scratch was a particular embarrassment. Stupid fur-ball looked all innocent and scared until he'd tried to pick it up. At least in this life Bakura got a more impressive story to tell about the cuts. Imps way outsold cats. Even if they probably did work on the same side.

"No! And what the hell are you looking for! You are more animal than man, Wheeler! No one should be able to see this far!" Bakura yelled back.

"Yah, love you too, man," Joey just snorted, for once feeling comfortable enough to tease with such sentiments. Yugi noticed immediately and gave Joey a shocked look.

"Oh yah…um…I think I owe you an apology Yug' for the last few-"

"Never mind Joey," Yugi laughed, throwing his arms around Joey's waist and giving him another hug. "Let's just get out of this creepy place."

"Amen," Joey huffed. Looking at Nero he blushed but Nero just giggled.

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After a good long round of hugs and victory-chants, Nero had gone to take Darrin up to register in Purgatory and Trika to the Purgatory Demon-Arrest Branch. Nizuki had offered to go too, but if the trembling of her knees was any demonstration the girl-angel had just about reached her limit.

This thought, of course, made Bakura deliriously happy. Imagining even a week without fists coming towards his head was enough to make him weep.

He, Ryou and Nizuki climbed down from the platform and joined everyone below. After a very short talk they decided that Yugi's place was as far as any of them thought they could walk and would be the perfect place to crash until feeling came back to their aching extremities.

"And I know you'll really be aching now without your sunlight bottle," Ryou flushed demurely in front of his guardian. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Just don't do it again," Nizuki frowned seriously, though her arm was wrapped around Ryou in a side-hug so she couldn't sound that angry.

It was at this point that Tea finally spoke up. "Um…c-could I be allowed to talk to Yami…alone…for just one minute?"

The group all turned to her in surprise. They were unused to her asking for anything. She usually just took what she wanted.

"I-I um…have something …some making up to do…that I just…can't do here…in front of you all," the brunette blushed.

"Holy cow, she's embarrassed," Joey gapped. "When is the last time you saw-"

Yugi elbowed his best friend hard in the gut and gave him a look to freeze lava.

"They need a minute alone, they GET a minute alone," Yugi said sternly, even though a blind idiot could tell that the idea of letting his other-half alone with this traitor was tearing the boy apart from the inside.

"Yah…okay," Joey coughed. Slowly, and with not a few backwards glances, the troop moved outside the building.

Once they were gone Yami stared to rush forward to embrace the girl, but strangely Tea held him back.

"No…Yami I…this is so hard for me to say. You know I love you so much…I err…the succubus-thing kind of demonstrates how much…"

"Tea, I love you too! It's okay if you-"

Tea shook her head solemnly. "No, it's not okay. It's not even CLOSE to okay. I know now…that it's all over…that I made a mistake. I was …well that doesn't matter, I don't think you really want to hear what I think of myself right now."

"Tea," Yami reached out soothingly. Tea ducked away from his arms, tears glistening in her eyes but a firm clench in her jaw.

"Yami…I want to break-up."

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Masaka: Ha-ha! Happy holidays if I don't see ya folks!

Yami Masaka: And you probably won't…hmmph stupid Microsoft Word needed to be reinstalled, stupid lab-top that needs exactly 45% empty-memory to work

Masaka: ANYWAY MERRCY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND MAY CUTIE ANGELS VISIT YOU THIS NIGHT!!


	41. When the snow begins to fall

Masaka: Yes, yes I know I'm a terrible authoress for letting all these problems mess up the updating especially when I had all of the winter-break to do this

Yami Masaka: And our excuses are listed at the bottom of the story

Jason: Luckily we DID manage to load this lovely long chapter for all you patient readers. SO ENJOY AND E-MAIL US ABOUT ANY GRAMMATICAL ERRORS SO WE CAN FIX THEM!! WHOO-HOO

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"Hark the Harold angel sing…why should I sing the same old thing," Yugi grumbled as he looked over his lyrics for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He glowered momentarily at the music-sheet as if the writing was what was causing him such frustration then just sighed and removed his headphones.

For whatever reason, Yugi just couldn't convince himself that he should be singing such an angelic Christmas song. It felt hypocritical on some level.

Yugi sighed once more and stood up from his bedroom floor, giving his joints a nice soothing stretch. He then looked over at his overcrowded, rather dilapidated desk and glanced at the small calendar sitting there. He particularly focused his attention on the large red circle around the 23rd of December.

It was only a few weeks from the Domino high-school's most unusual event, the Christmas-Eve's Eve Festival, and everyone in Karaoke Club was a bit frantic to get ready for their performance. It would be the infant club's first ever live demonstration of singing so there was a lot of pressure to do well. It certainly didn't help anyone nerves that Atsushi, fresh and fit from the hospital, kept trying to sneak into the event's song line-up despite his doctor's increasingly graphic warnings about putting stress on the massive stitches that were still quickly vividly holding together the teen's diaphragm (A/N: the doctor adds an adjective to what might happen to him every time Atsushi fouls up).

Yugi didn't think Atsushi meant to be so worrisome to everyone; then again Atsushi seemed to love creating stress as much as he loved dismantling it.

"And if Atsushi was the only one like that, it'd be a smooth slide into the New Year," Yugi thought dismally as he finished his stretches and changed out of his pajamas into actual day-wear (A/N: Pajamas are required wear for day's off).

Atsushi's death-defying singing was by far the least of Yugi's worries. Ever since the demon game had been won, about a month and some odd days ago*, things among the group had been rocky. The earthquake was over but not all the rocks had settled, one might say.

Ryou and Bakura had shown the most progressive, change. Yugi didn't see them much for all the Christmas prep he had been forced into, but from what Nizuki told him the two white-haired males were spending quite a lot of time together trying to recreate their relationship.

'But you know Bakura is such a social-clutz and Ryou is so gun-shy that they are always butting-heads,' had been Nizuki's exact sentiments on the matter.

As for the Queen of Swords herself, Nizuki was using up most of her time at the Kame Game Shop tormenting the ever-loving stuffing out of his newly returned grandpa. That had been a nasty surprise in itself to come limping back home after the end of the game, totting emotional-broken and physically drained companions, to see grandpa's boots at the door. What had made it even more scarily surprising is that when the old man had heard the scuffling of shoes at the back-door and had come to see who it was Nizuki had gone feral. She'd actually sprung on the old man like a poltergeist and had pulled his cheeks apart like she was a grade-schooler with a grudge, hissing all sorts of accusations that Yugi couldn't begin to make heads-or-tails of.

'Ah! Yes that right,' Nero had explained, 'is SOLOMON who is Nizuki's idiot! Ooh how stupid of Nero to not have remembered that. She complain for so long about him and all his philandering ways.'

Bakura had sworn right then and there to break all ties with his groupies and bed-mates and anyone he'd ever met from the nightclubs. Nizuki hadn't seemed interested in the confession and had only continued pulling of grandpa's cheeks until Nero poked her in the back with the edge of Yugi's puzzle-fragment**.

However, because Nizuki had been so washed-out since the game and because the only thing that seemed to distract her from her depression about her constantly limited powers and waning angelic nature the group had relented after a very short time and had let Nizuki go back to haunting Solomon.

It wasn't as though Nizuki and Solomon really did anything more than yell at each-other, and if Yugi was not mistaken his jii-san actually seemed to LIKE arguing with the angel about his apparently more than romantic past.

Joey had gotten better since the game too, though compared to the others his changes were more subtle. He didn't seem conflicted anymore and though he was still as busy as ever with his million and one jobs and study-groups he still made time to call Yugi up and just talk. It was actually as if this whole mess had actually made Yugi and Joey closer because they were certainly abusing their cell-phones in a never-ending game of phone-tag. Just this summer neither boy would have bothered with it at all.

Joey had also made sure to pass the word down to Otogi and Honda that Yugi was no longer under threat from anything. The blonde didn't specify exactly what threats were eliminated, having sworn that he would take the secrets of the demons to his grave for his own sanity's sake as much as the angels' comfort, but he'd still managed to convince the Yugi-Watchers to disband.

Nero hadn't seemed to suffer any ill-effects from the game but like Joey his shifts seemed…natural, or at least they seemed so to Yugi. The Prince of Games had never doubted Nero's budding capabilities so when Nero started zooming around on his healed wings, shepherding the local ex-demon, bolstering Nizuki's waning powers and looking after Yami as he suffered the ill-effects of his break-up with Tea, Yugi wasn't surprised at all. The others had nearly had coronaries but Yugi had just been proud.

Now Tea breaking the thread with her 'Yami-koi' had to be the MOST revolutionary change of all that had happened since the demon game, but it was also the one that filled Yugi with the most conflict. Tea had said her peace to her boyfriend, explaining quite kindly that she just couldn't stand to be around the scene of her greatest crime, as she called, and was going to move away to the school associated with the dance academy she'd been accepted into. She'd said her apologizes to Yugi and the angels as well and then, while Yami was still trying to chase her and tell her that he didn't care, Tea ran off. While this very permanent break-up had made Yugi happy, as it made his own path to Yami's heart clear, it also made him feel miserable because he could see how broken-hearted Yami was.

Unlike Ryou, who had punched Darrin out when he'd remembered everything that had happened, then went and cried for an hour and came back fit as a fiddle (A/N: except for that whole gun-shy behavior thing) Yami was still aching from lover's pains.

He pretended he was fine around their friends but when it was just Yugi and Nero around Yami would completely collapse into a mere husk of his once proud and purposed self.

Nero was counteracting these pains with as much calming energy and healing hymns as he could spare, while the reformed Darrin was continually sending over counteractive herbal poultice and potions to dissolve any remaining succubus spell. Even Nizuki had mustered up a few counter-curses of her own.

None of it had helped.

"A Merry Christmas indeed," Yugi snorted as he finished his ponderings of the past and headed out the door.

When things got this bad there was nothing to do but get up and take a walk. (A/N: so bad that even a puzzle can't soothe him…boy really DOES have problems)

As he hopped down the stairs the sounds of Nizuki and Jii-san's mid-morning argument began to assault his ear in what was becoming an almost common place roar of screams.

"YOU ARE THE WORST MAN WHO EVER LIVED! ALWAYS RUNNING OFF AND GETTING INTO TROUBLE! ALWAYS MAKING STUPID BETS!"

"It's been forty years, Nizuki! I'm not that same kid-"

"OOOOOH YES YOU ARE! Or did you think I wouldn't NOTICE the totally NEGLECTFUL way you've raised Yugi? Eh? EH? JEEEEEEERK-WAAAAD!"

"Honestly! You act as if-"

"Loser! Degenerate! Rover! Drifter! Irresponsible No-Good-Nick!"

"AUUUGH! Would you just go bother someone else for a while and leave me in peace!!"

"Oooh, who did you have in mind, eh? Your darling daughter-in-law perhaps? Oops that doesn't seem like a possibility does it?"

"…Now that was just low."

Yugi privately agreed but made sure to creep past the storage-room where the battle was currently running on so that he could avoid actually having to say so to the irate angel.

The teenager stealthily scuttled down the hallway and into the dining-room. He was almost home-free and out the door when the back kitchen door banged open and a familiar chirp erupted in the air.

"YUUUUGI-SAMA! WE HOOOME!!" Nero called.

Knowing it would be useless to try and sneak out now Yugi simply turned back around and went back into the kitchen where Yami and Nero were sorting out groceries.

"Hey you two," Yugi smiled at the unlikely duo, "how was the grocery-store?"

"Crowded like you wouldn't believe," Yami said as he pushed down his hooded-jacket and took off his sunglasses. There were still a lot of dueling maniacs out on the street and now that Yami was single he was under a lot of threat by both fanatic fan-girls and fan-boys. The reminder of his involuntary personal status was probably the main reason Yami looked so dour right now.

A month ago Yugi would have blamed that expression on his being forced to hang out with Nero, but since Yami had become somewhat dependent on the cherub's hymns their relationship had actually grown into quite an affectionate one.

Not that Yugi expected Yami to devolve into an angel cuddling type anytime soon. That was Yugi's sin.

"Ah well I'm sorry about that," Yugi laughed as he scooted into the small kitchen to help put things away, "but all of Domino City seems to get a little nuts around this time of year. Even grocery stores. After all, you can't have Christmas without the Holy infant made of sugar-cookies now can you?"

"YUGI-SAMA!" Nero scolded in his most serious tone. Yugi flinched and smiled apologetically at the cherub, but didn't make any effort to actually take it back.

"…Are you…feeling all right aibou?" Yami asked when he noticed this.

"I'm not the one who doesn't sleep for more than an hour at a time before waking up to cry," Yugi replied sharply. "You just take care of yourself for now…and I'll take care of myself. Give us both a month's time and then if either of us are grumpy we can talk."

"It's just you seem-" Yami reached out to touch Yugi's shoulder. Yugi tactfully arched away to give Nero an under-the-arms hug.

"I'm going to go take a walk over to Ryou and Bakura's okay? See that Nizuki and jii-san don't get too hostile while I'm gone," he told the angel before giving him a small peck on the top of the head and darting back to the store-front to grab his jacket and make his escape.

He didn't have to look back to know that Nero and Yami were now both looking after him with perplexed and troubled looks.

'Merry freaking Christmas indeed."

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It is common fact that demons are not cold-weather creatures. The sarcastic phrase 'when Hell freezes over' goes miles to express just how far Hell and all its inhabitants are from living in even the slightest of chilly weather.

Taking this into account it was really peculiar that Darrin Zubarro was standing in a foot-high snow-bank at the end of Ryou's street dressed in only his usual garb of jeans and button-down shirt.

At first glance Yugi thought his assumption about demons were about to be disproven but as he crept closer he notice that the man's ears were crimson from chill and that his lips were purple from a low internal temperature. It looked like the man was an inch from falling over dead.

Yugi stared at this spectacle for a long while, unsure of whether he wanted to involve himself or not. It wasn't as though he was the vindictive type who would let a man suffer just because he happened to have a bad-past, but at the same time Yugi wasn't quite the naïve idiot he used to be and wasn't about to risk getting close to someone who had worked for the Source of All Ill-Will.

After about five minutes Yugi decided that he really didn't have a choice in the matter as the ex-demon was standing between him and his intended destination and walked over.

"Suicide by freezing isn't exactly the type of thing a guy who wants to redeem his soul should be doing," he spoke in way of greeting.

Darrin sneezed once then delicately wiped his nose and politely bowed.

"G-g-g-g-good da-a-a-a-y-y-y M-m-m-m-m-Motu-s-s-s-san," he shivered.

Yugi shook his head and actually allowed himself a smile. A lying jackass he might be, Yugi really didn't think Darrin was that bad a person. Obviously the guy's life had just made a hideous down-turn at some point, sort of like Bakura on a shadow-binge.

"Come on Zubarro, what are you doing here? Has it been so long since you've been allowed to act on your own that you couldn't even grab a jacket?" Yugi scolded as he took Darrin by the elbow and led him over to the nearby bus-stop. As with all bus-stops in good residential areas this one had a vent blowing the slightest bit of heat up into the bench. Yugi wasn't sure where this stop was drawing its power but as long as it was free and it was warm it probably didn't matter.

Darrin sunk onto the grated metal like a limp noodle and began blowing on his raw looking fingers.

"I-I s-suppose I-I got…a-a little carried a-away…l-leaving m-my house i-in such a rush th-that I didn't g-grab a coat. N-Normally I-I don't even g-go out i-in the snow. I-I just cu-curl up next t-to the radiator…or t-that's what I did back when…a-and I wo-wouldn't m-move u-until March."

"What could have rushed you THAT much? Aren't you ….well…rich? Nero said something about you having a human sponsor or something…an old guy who gave you a really big mansion and more money than you need in return for…what was it again, your potions to strengthen him for a final year of travel or something?" Yugi questioned.

"Y-Yes t-that deal w-was…what g-gave me m-my new s-s-s-surname. I-I'm p-particularly p-proud because i-it w-was-s-s- s a-a co-completely a-ambiguous c-contract that I-I was-s-s-s a-able to u-use as m-my first P-Purgatory c-case," Darrin smiled weakly as he rocked slightly back and forth for warmth.

"Oh for-" Yugi wailed at the almost incomprehensible chatter. He patched into what little power remained in the puzzle and sent a stream of warm-magic directly into Darrin's blood. The demon seemed a little pained by it at first, but when the ice-crystals in his hair steamed away Darrin just seemed to accept it.

"Ah thank you," Darrin wiped his drippy nose again. "Now maybe I'll have the strength to get back home. I don't even know where I am right now."

"On Ryou's street," Yugi frowned cautiously. Darrin's face seemed to light up cherry-red then just as quickly fade to chalky white.

"O-oh dear, I…I really….I am?"

"You didn't know?" Yugi said skeptically. "I mean I know you SAID you're finished with Ryou and you'll stay away from him-"

"I'll stay away from him until which point he has some deed for me to do…at which point I will gladly give to him whatever he wishes…as a djinn might…because technically I think that's what a stripped-down demons is..." Darrin clarified. He had been a contract-writing demon after all so he was unusually cautious about misinterpretations. "And I do mean that. I really had no idea I had wandered in his direction I was…fixated on something else."

"Else?" Yugi asked.

"Angelic energy…I suddenly sensed it and …it was like a feeling of thirst really…I-I just went after it. I…one of my old masters was a soul-eater and he described the reaction a demon can have around a soul as a sort of …and an angel's soul is so much more…I-I wasn't going to hurt it but it was…and I was," Darrin started to ramble off, a glazed look coming to his eyes.

Yugi none too bashfully smacked the man across the face to break the rather disgusting train of thought the ex-demon was on. Eating souls and stalking angels, honestly. The guy was going to have to learn to deal with these lingering desires more carefully.

"I'm sorry…I didn't meant to…well you know," Darrin blushed. "And it's not like I do this often …believe me. I certainly would rather eat my own legs than hurt your Nero…"

The demon's head suddenly shot up as if he'd figured out something dramatic. He floundered for words for a minute then scrunched his eyes closed and shook his head.

"No, no interfering with the work that is already being done. No piggy-back works. The deal, remember the deal or else they'll take away your last chance," he muttered to himself.

"Um are you-" Yugi questioned.

"You are intending to spend Christmas with Nero…correct?" Darrin wildly changed the subject.

"Wha- huh, well… of course…why, are you asking if you can-" Yugi grimaced.

"Oh no!" Darrin flushed cherry-red again. "No, I wouldn't dream of …no it's just I had the strangest thought and…well if it turns out I'm right then I really shouldn't even be asking these questions, though I can't really see the harm…uh…I suppose that Nizuki shall be back in her heavenly home by the Holy Eve but Nero's return is comparatively…undefined."

An unexpectedly painful jerk tore through Yugi's heart. He had always been close to Nero, though perhaps not in quite the same regard and to the same depths as Ryou was with Nizuki, but the idea of losing his cherub's companionship still hurt.

Yugi had been saved by the angel's charming smile so many times, and Yami was so much happier around Nero…After all that had happened a Nero-free world seemed like perhaps the most lonely thing imaginable.

Of course Christmas would include Nero. It had to or Yugi would just give up all faith in Heaven and completely surrender to his already Scrooge-like inclination towards the most Christian spirited holiday.

"…He'll have to fix that then, before he can go," Darrin commented solemnly.

"Oh yah? What about Nizuki then, huh? What does SHE have to fix when Ryou is so close to her that he slips into calling her onee-chan when he thinks she's not listening?" Yugi huffed defensively, spitting Ryou's newest habit back at the demon like it was a crime.

"Ryou…has Bakura, and Ryou is also expecting his father home with 'special guests'," Darrin informed him. "You have no such support system."

"For your information you stalker creep, I happen to have a great support system!" Yugi bristled. "I have Yami and I have my grandpa and I have all my friends! They are the best support-system anyone could ask for!"

Darrin seemed a little taken aback, whether by Yugi's stalker comment or the boy's venomous denial it was hard to tell and he held up his hands in a placating manner.

"I'm just saying what I suspect. If I'm wrong then tell me; I'm usually wrong…" the dark-one relented.

"Well you're…you're…" Yugi growled and kicked the snow, "you're right but you're also wrong! I've got so many loved ones! So many people care about me! I'll be fine if I'm with them! I mean it's not like …I-I'm alone or anything and so I…I…"

"Please forgive me for even breaching the subject," Darrin cringed politely.

"Is fine," Yugi sniffled as he shamefully rubbed his eyes free of a few hot tears.

"I really DO have to work on my people-skills," the demon offered himself gallantly for assault, "you'd think a silver-tongue would come natural after my former occupation but no. Luckily, it seems Nizuki doesn't seem too sensitive so I-"

"N-Nizuki?" Yugi interrupted questioningly.

"A-AH! I m-meant it's lucky angels a-and people LIKE angels t-tend to be…they d-don't seem to mind when I…that is not to say you aren't angelic as well and I-" the ex-incubus flushed crimson again.

"Are you in love with-" Yugi started to question.

"Ah! Good day, Motu-san. Feel better, Motu-san. Uh make sure to watch out for something from the Heavenward direction Motu-san…good-bye Motu-san," Darrin rattled off quickly as he darted off down the snowy-street again.

Yugi laughed at the sight for a moment then his mood went somber. The man had brought up some troubling thoughts that went along all too painfully well with Yugi's other holiday issues.

"Oh stop it Yugi," the boy scolded himself. "You've survive a demonic attack on your soul, made pace with your best friend, picked up a new vocation and made friends with your former enemies. A little holiday gloominess isn't going to kill you."

Shaking himself firmly Yugi turned and headed back towards his original destination, the Bakura house.

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Bakura 'Kamenwati' Kul-Elna (A/N: Bakura is so ancient his surname is also his birthplace. Sort of like Ella of Frell is a complete name) had always lived on the edge. He'd never allow himself to really relax or enjoy his surroundings least that too be taken from him.

Yet now, for the first time in any of his lives the orphan thief found himself without want, without demon and without enemies. Perhaps he still had to deal with worthless overseers at his crappy job and perhaps he still had a few 'questionable business associates' that he had yet to brush off despite his best efforts, but those things were nothing compared to the Hell he'd first lived through.

Actually having a genuine home that he could enjoy without restraint, that he couldn't push away even for its own good, was something that Bakura knew he'd never take for granted; even if that meant he had to help with ridiculous holiday decorations that his equally ridiculous (but sweet) hikari insisted on putting up in preparation for Bakura senior's arrival he wasn't going to complain.

"Ryou, not to dampen your mood, but you DO recognize the almost sacrilegious connotations of putting up Druid-based ornamentation while there is an angel is still living with us, don't you?" Bakura huffed as he stapled a small sprig of mistletoe over the front-door.

"Oh don't be such a hard-ass," Ryou laughed so casually that Bakura nearly toppled off his ladder in shock.

"Watch that tongue, dear one, or you might be mistaken for me while walking about town," Bakura teased as he easily regained his footing and his mental equilibrium.

Ryou shuddered satisfyingly as Bakura knew he would. Between the kid's own fan-girls and Bakura's detail-blind ex-bed-mates that refused to take 'no' for an answer it really wasn't surprising why Ryou had turned to relationships with other males. At least men didn't squeal and cluster around you and…well…men were generally less prone to flocking behavior altogether enough said.

"Thank you very much for that reminder Mr. I-Buy-Condoms-By-The-Gross," Ryou huffed, "like I need any more mental trauma. We'll need to work on some new house-rules for overnight guests before Winter Break is through."

Slowly Bakura descended the ladder and leaned intimately into Ryou's personal-space, boxing the boy against the wall with his arms and causing Ryou's breathing to hitch.

"I'm not having over-night guests ever again, dear one," Bakura said evenly as he eased his body-line up against Ryou's. "Pretty party-gowns and come-hither eyes don't do anything for me now that I…"

"N-Now that you?" Ryou asked as Bakura had hoped he would.

"Now that I'm of a clear-mind to appreciate just what REAL affection is…and how truly…satisfying," Bakura purred out the word as he leaned his face closer to his other's "…it is to be with that one…true…partner to one's sou-"

Before Bakura could finish his touching little speech, however, the doorbell rang, startling Ryou but good and sending him rushing for the door.

Bakura let him go and continued to lean heavily against the wall with his fist clenched and his muscles trembling. He could swear he could feel his nerves all yelling out insults at his brain for letting Ryou get away without at least one good solid, satisfying kiss.

"Just one inch," Bakura growled through gritted teeth, "just one measly little inch."

Taking a deep breath Bakura then forced himself to be calm and he turned around to face their guest. His attitude was still snappier than he would hoped because the moment he saw who it was that had interrupted he yelled, though luckily not entirely in anger.

"YUGI? What the hell are you doing here instead of being back home sneaking into the pharaoh's pants?" Bakura yelled.

"BAKURA!" Ryou scolded while said-duelist turned pink.

"What? It's not like Yugi is doing anything wrong by offering. A good taste of ACTUAL passion is probably just what that royal SOB needs right now. Hell after all the fluid-exchange between him and the dancer he's probably a-"

"Seriously Bakura, that's enough. One more word out of you and I'll…I'll…I'll send for Nizuki!!" Ryou huffed.

"Gah! What! Hey!" Bakura choked.

"I-It's fine Ryou…B-Bakura does…oddly enough have a point," Yugi coughed. "You remember how strung-out Mai was after she and Valon finished err…seeing each-other. Breaking up is probably taxing on both the errr…emotional a-and physical level…um…after that um…kind of relationship."

Bakura could have sworn he heard the thought 'it sure can be' float through Ryou's mind, but his other didn't speak or mental-speak any such thing.

"Um so w-what brings you here, Yugi?" Ryou coughed awkwardly, leading Yugi through the jungle of strewn Christmas lights and decoration-filled boxes that were cluttering the front hallway and into the less-messy but still savaged living-room.

"I just needed to get away from things for a moment and thought I'd check up on you two," Yugi shrugged as he idly fingered the bristles of the pine-tree that Bakura had nearly snapped his spine hauling inside yesterday. Ryou had wanted to help but for some strange reason Bakura had felt it was his duty to do it. Maybe it was his lingering need to be the lord of his surroundings. He'd given up a lot of control and it was hard to give up the opportunity to be the strong-one when it came around.

"Is Nizuki causing you trouble? Because I can-" Ryou started.

"No! No! Heavens…no, it's not her. Fighting is…well it gives grandpa a sort of unofficial look into what he's missed these last few months," Yugi laughed with false levity. "No it's not her…or Yami or the club or…well maybe a little bit of that but…I really AM handling it all…it's just…"

"It's the holiday that's getting to you," Bakura caught on.

"Wh-wha?" Yugi jolted.

"I know that droopy, pensive posture so well I could write a book on the subject," Bakura pointed aggressively. "Hell knows I've seen the signs in enough former hosts and passers-by. You've got something against Christmas."

"I-I….that is," Yugi squirmed.

"HAH! I'm right! And how ironic, a light who doesn't like the most light-hearted season ever thought up!" Bakura continued. "Why I'll just bet that you're the only one in our entire ruddy band of-OUCH!"

Ryou kicked Bakura's shin so hard that it was impossible to think there wouldn't be a grapefruit sized bruise there latter and tacked on a very scalding mental order /Either be nice or leave! You can be a bastard around me but Yugi is a friend!/

//But I didn't mean to-//

/Then be NICE!/

"Is there anything Bakura or I could do to help you feel better?" Ryou asked while Bakura subtly moaned in pain and tried to stop the pain in his leg.

Yugi looked like he was about to say something snide, like he might jab at Ryou's sister or mother in one of those really unforgivable type insults, but then the hikari just seemed to droop and shake his head.

"No, I'll be fine. I can endure until things stop flash red and green. I just wanted to see some of my friends who were doing better off," the boy smiled so meekly that even Bakura's iron-rod heart-strings let of a small 'twang'.

"Shit, Yugi, don't act so gloomy or else someone might just have to kiss the frown right off your lips."

"BAKU-"

"It was meant as a compliment!" Bakura flushed as his brain finally met back up with his mouth. "I mean it'd take a hell of a lot for me to smooch on someone who looks just like the pharaoh but when he acts all vulnerable and sweet it makes me want to scoop him up and-"

"BA-KU-RA!" Ryou growled.

"What? I feel the same way about you, only more or less constantly towards you and-"

"Oookay then! I think I've overstayed MY welcome," Yugi said decisively, allowing Bakura a much needed moment to attempt an extraction of that foot that was shoved way down deep in his mouth.

"I'll walk you out," Ryou smiled politely.

"ACK! Wait! Ryou! Yugi! RYOU!" Bakura jogged after them.

The pharaoh's look-alike managed to escape thinking the worst but his own hikari was still close enough for Bakura to attempt some damage-control.

"Listen Ryou, that's NOT what I was trying to say! I only meant-"

Bakura's foot caught in a tangle of tree-lights and with a poise utterly unbecoming of a thief Bakura fell into Ryou, dropping them both onto the ground right under the newly hung mistletoe.

"T-that wasn't deliberate," Bakura coughed; not for the first time he wished he was still possessed and emotionless.

Ryou didn't say anything as Bakura hastily pulled them both back onto their feet.

"Really, what I said, it came out wrong and I'm sorry I pissed you off but you have to know that I-"

Yet again Bakura was interrupted, but this time it wasn't by a kick or a glare, or even him tripping over his own oafish out of practice feet. This time Ryou interrupted him with a kiss. A sweet, barely there yet lingering kiss.

"Just help me finish decorating the house…you perverted old moron," Ryou teased breathily as he drew back .

As nothing on Bakura was working properly from the neck up the thief could only nod.

Ryou giggled nervously then skittered away back to the living-room.

The moment he was out of sight Bakura allowed himself a stupid ear-to-ear grin as well as a little victory hop.

He didn't even care that his little stumble had embedded a hundred little broken bulb-shards into his back, because right now Bakura, truly and absolutely had reached his goal of being Pharaoh of the Whole Freaking World!

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Yugi would be home at any moment and Nero was gearing himself up for what he hoped would be an encouraging little angel/human sit-down.

The cherub had come to a firm decision after Yugi had left and it had not been an easy one.

Nizuki had done so much to help Nero with his 'unspoken wish' and Nero really hated to just turn away from all that had been done so far but Yugi's romancing really rather fell under guardian duties as a completion of protectorate's happiness than under wish-granting and if Nero wanted to keep up with his newly eared title of unofficial guardian angel and he wanted to fix this problem before Nizuki's contract ended and the whole-angel community got word of what Nero had been doing in the last few months he needed to do what he was planning.

"But now does Nero get to subject Yugi-sama obviously so sensitive about," Nero sighed to himself.

Bolstering himself internally Nero straightened up and march to the door, ready to meet Yugi half-way. He barely managed to get the doorknob turned when a sudden flood of light came billowing into the kitchen with Yugi suspended from it by the coat-collar.

"So THIS is what has become of you, my rouge little angel," the light said in a solemn tone that made temple-walls shudder and holy-men go mute. Nero would have recognized it anywhere.

"NAKAGATO-SENSAI!" Nero yelped.

"Um…Nero, I think this guy is here for you," Yugi stammered a little unnecessarily.

"Come 'Nero' you, I and Nizuki have much to discuss," Nero's old school-master and very old-testament structured instructor seemed to scowl.

"Oh…silver clouds," Nero swore.

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Masaka: Sorry about all the latest up-date problems, folks

Yami Masaka: The good news is that we have pretty much everything laid out for the final stretch from here to the new of the story

Jason: The bad news is that we don't know exactly how much we will actually put into the ending .We have plans for another Heavenly Interventions story but…

Masaka: I really should be moving onto other stories after this one is over

Yami Masaka: So the exact future of our favorite angels and their bishonens is up in the air

Masaka: Also I'd like to apologize to any of those people who were fixated on the Yugi Christmas story. I thought I could update it all in time but…well that didn't happen now did it

Nero: READ AND REVIEW BEFORE NAKAGATO-SENSAI TURNS ME BLACK AND BLUE!!


	42. Lectured and Forwarned

Masaka: Report all grammar mistakes and be happy I posted two things in one day! It probably won't happen again.

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Of the many odd facts that Yugi was learning about angels, the secret to playing host to an angelic disciplinary meeting had to be the weirdest. It wasn't that Yugi hadn't been honored to meet such a high-ranking angel as Nakagato, nor was it that Yugi really minded being called upon to lead all three angels from his house to the nearest church so that the meeting could be formally held in its rightful setting. The only thing that Yugi really minded was having no idea what –if anything- these angels were expecting from him now.

All Yugi had been told was that Nero and Nizuki were going to be straightened out about their collective misconduct and that there would be changes. Nothing else.

"Maybe…maybe Nakagato is just here to um…re-energize Nizuki? I mean…that's the only big problem either of them have…r-right?" Ryou asked as he swirled his coffee-straw around in his French-vanilla cappuccino.

Yugi had called him to the park-side café closest to the church the moment Nakagato had closed the chapel doors on him.

"I don't know WHAT he's going to do, Ryou," Yugi admitted dourly, "I mean this angel was…he is…well he's not like our angels. This guys is…he is like a nuclear-missile in men's clothing. The real Revelations type. He was so intense and fixated and…and if Nero and Nizuki really are in trouble then I get the feeling we'll have to just accept whatever he decides."

Ryou glanced studiously at Yugi's constantly drumming fingers and chalk-white face then wisely changed the subject.

"S-so how are um…things? Is your grandfather doing all right?"

"My grandpa?" Yugi blinked in shock. "Well aside from the angel-abuse he's fine. Then again jii-san has always been a resilient person. Mostly he's just driving Yami and me nuts with stories about Prof. Hawkin's new university lab and how we were such terrible shop-clerks without him watching us."

"Oh dear, I suppose the game shop's sales WOULD have taken a dive while all this demon nonsense has been going on," Ryou sighed.

"Yes…and now Yami is being forced to do so much work," Yugi continued. "Somehow I got off the hook for the slip but-"

"Well you did do a lot of work on your own while Solomon was away," Ryou flushed, surprised at how much Yugi was underrating his own workload.

Despite the boy's naturally faltering sense of work-devotion (A/N: Yugi is only focused on what Yugi likes) the Prince of Games had still taken on twelve-hour work-days every weekend, and three-hour workdays every school-day.

He'd nearly broken his back several times loading inventory by himself and had nearly gotten himself shot by an unhappy yakuza customer.

"Yah…guess I did work quite a bit…" Yugi grimaced. "Now I just sing…oh man why do I stick with these things I'm not even sure I like?"

"…Hero-complex?" Ryou offered.

Yugi moaned and dropped his chin on the table. "I'm just hopelessly addicted to making my loved ones happy. I do stupid stuff like work all the time and then I swallow back my own desires."

"Until Nero makes you spit them back ouu-" Ryou tampered off miserably, unhappy that he'd somehow brought this conversation full-circle back to the angels.

"If it was just a confidence problem I could get over it…like you did…but I guess…my problem is more …complex," Yugi sighed, "it's …it's like how I get grumpy around holidays …so complicated."

"And I'm not?" Ryou flushed again.

"You're fixed up so you can't be too complicated," Yugi shrugged.

"You think I'm fixed?" Ryou yelped.

"Yep, you're confident now, and well on your way to having Bakura as your devoted lover. Nizuki said as much," Yugi nodded. "Oh! And if that's how it is maybe Nakagato is here to reassign Nizuki!"

"NO WAY!" Ryou shouted with uncharacteristic venom. "NIZUKI CAN'T LEAVE! NO WAY!"

"S-sheesh, okay, no way!" Yugi sweat-dropped.

"Nizuki hasn't even mentioned leaving so no," Ryou continued to growl.

Across the street the doors of the church finally opened, allowing Yugi to turn Ryou's focus off the subject and evade trouble.

"Let's go and greet them shall we," Yugi suggested as he got up from his chair and straightened his coat. "They'll probably need comfort after all that lecturing."

Ryou huffed angrily for a moment more then nodded and shouldered his own coat, zipping out the door sooner than Yugi could. From the warmth of the café the prince of games watched his companion light run across the street and tackle-hug his waiting angel.

'Boy is so addicted to her,' Yugi thought dismally before following in suit. 'So very addicted.'

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Nakagato's lecture was not what Yugi and Ryou had feared, at least not directly.

Basically what the angel had come to say, aside from scolding and proclamations of impending career doom, was that Nizuki and Nero had priority missions awaiting them in Heaven. Secret high-profile missions it seemed.

"Mission schmission I have Yugi-sama to help!" Nero had flat-out refused his instructor's message.

"This human of yours will fall in love soon enough, so you-" Nakagato had tried to dominate his student.

His actions would have probably worked too; had not Nero gone through all that he had gone through. And even then it might have worked, had Nero not felt the heat and determination of his onee-chan and his so brave Yugi-sama burning deep in his core.

With Nizuki's passion and Yugi's bravery shaping his spirit Nero had felt a core of confidence that he'd never experience before and had made it known.

"N…NO!" Nero had all at once stood up and glared back at his former teacher. "I see that blessing as Nizuki's work and I have plans of my own! Plans I WILL see through, even if I go against you sensai!"

And for once Nakagato had listened to Nero and actually given him a wary smile of approval. It was a brief expression that had barely touched the curves o f his lips before it had disappeared beneath a thunderous glower but it had been one all the same.

"And you, Nizuki," Nakagato had then turned on the elder angel, "will you stand by and watch this frivolity."

"With all due respect sir," Nizuki had spoken with an unusually heavy-tone of gravity to her voice. "I believe Nero is within his right to do as he pleases."

It had taken Nero a while to process that statement. He'd listened to the rest of Nakagato's lecture and had watched the teacher return to Heaven and had gone outside to meet up with Yugi, all before even the slightest hint of real acceptance had lit within him.

"This…is what it feel like to be an all-aboard working angel?" Nero gasped as he stood of the icy steps of the church. "This what it like…for Nakagato-sensai to LISTEN to you when you speak?"

"Well, to be honest I think he's listened to you before, only you couldn't tell because you still ended up doing what he demanded. You've never shown such resolve before," Nizuki pointed out as she stomped her own feet and rubbed her arms for warmth.

"AHHH! Nero really IS an unofficial guardian!" Nero smiled.

"What? And when I told you back then*it didn't count or something?" Nizuki sweat-dropped.

"Oh, but Nizuki also shocked sensai with her own plans in even more impressive way than Nero," the cherub turned the subject around on the girl-angel.

Nizuki flushed and didn't comment. Not that Nero really had expected her to. For some reason or other Nizuki's serious face had come out during their meeting with Nakagato and she had held up her chin the entire time Nakagato had yelled, simply stating that for all her problems and all her rule-breaking she was willing to accept all consequences…and that she wasn't leaving until it was done.

"Nizuki-nee talked the whole-time…like she was…like she was removed from fight…like she thought she was just the official watcher in Nero's work…like she doesn't plan to keep doing what she loves," Nero thought out-loud as Nizuki continued to refuse eye-contact.

"…Don't freak out," Nizuki finally smiled, "it's all a part of my master plan…or at least my final one."

"If Nizuki-nee says so," Nero frowned suspiciously.

Nizuki laughed brightly and clapped Nero warmly on the shoulder. Her hand felt as real and heavy as ever, despite her waning magic.

"Now let's loose these serious thoughts and expressions, otherwise our protectorates will think that the Last Days are finally upon us, okay?" the strawberry blonde smiled charmingly.

"Yes," Nero smiled back.

A moment later Ryou landed a spectacular Nero-worthy tackle-hug on Nizuki and everything about the last half-hour trickled out of Nero's mind.

CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND

Masaka: Meh, not the most interesting stuff but it was important to get through

Nakagato: For all your thoughts about what my role was to be I merely came off as a messenger.

Masaka: You'll be back…for a while. But ya, you is a messenger boy.

CHAPTEREND

*see Heavenly Intervention chapter 30-31


	43. When We Know What We Need To Do

Masaka: Setting Nizuki up to the position she needs to be in is harder than I thought!

Yami Masaka: Nero is all ready for his near Yoda role in our next HI story, but Nizuki is being stubborn

Nizuki: What can I say, I'm a complicated girl

Masaka: And as for the writing delay…eh, you college-kids should understand my misery, I haven't been able to spare a synapse since this semester began. I nearly killed myself from the stress TWICE

Yami Masaka: It was an ugly time

Masaka: Luckily I have most of the story written out now and I should be able to update three or so chapters over Spring Break!!

Yami Masaka: If nothing more happens…ugh stupid classes…stupid muses…and then stupid cold on top of all of that

Nizuki: And so without further ado here is the next chapter of the Heavenly Intervention epic!

CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART

Ryou hadn't noticed it before now but Nizuki really did look bad. He'd ignored it for as long as he could but as he was walking home from the church with his angel, Yugi's words swarming in his brain, he was forced to see that Nizuki really was fading away from him.

The angel's skin was now almost as milk-white as his own, her fire-bright hair was lank and her stride was almost drunken. Compared to the way she'd burst into his home, so many months before, with her celestial armor all aglow and her eyes burning with fire, this Nizuki was but a hollow-shell of the glorious being sent to save Ryou's immortal bacon.

"_And if that's how it is maybe Nakagato is here to reassign Nizuki!"_

Yugi's words had struck Ryou hard, and now the boy was not sure what to do. He'd already gained so much from his angel…what right did he have to ask for anything more?

"Ry-chan, what's the matter?" Nizuki asked, having caught sight of Ryou's face.

"A-Ah w-well…" Ryou stalled for time. His mind tried to come up with some excuse that the angel might be convinced of, but for all his story-making talent…nothing arose.

Nizuki seemed to be a little annoyed by Ryou's embarrassment because she grimaced and sighed, taking Ryou by the arm and leading him deeper into Domino Park, back past the church, over to a heated arboretum, which in warmer weather functioned as a butterfly garden.

No one was around to stop them, and with one wave of her hand the lock undid itself and let the duo inside the man-made oasis. The humidifiers and sun-lamps all hummed grumpily at the slight wintry breeze they brought in with them, but otherwise the shelter was silent.

"Okay, spill it," Nizuki said shortly. "I know there is something serious stewing in that pretty little head of yours, otherwise you would have just blurted something out when I asked you what was up. If you can't even lie to me then something must be seriously wrong."

Ryou flinched slightly. "You know I only lied to you because I thought I was-"

Nizuki brushed the apology away with the wave of her hand. It was the same way she'd brushed away Ryou's other apologies, right after he'd recovered from the lingering incubus' charms and had been struck by his guilt. She never acted mad; she just wasn't interested in apologizes.

"That's not what I want to hear," the strawberry blonde said maternally. "I want to know what's making you upset. It's my job to know what's on your mind…as often as you block me."

Ryou shifted his weight awkwardly from foot to foot, his mind full but his tongue still empty. He wasn't sure how to express what he wanted without sounding like a child or a love-struck moron. He wasn't sure if there were even words strong enough in the human language to talk about his gratitude, and also his fear….

"You're…you're so important to me, Nizuki," Ryou finally managed to pant out. "I mean…Nero and Yugi are close, I know, and that has a lot to do with them learning from each other and strengthening one another but…"

Ryou swallowed hard, trying to hold onto what felt like the last strings of his dignity. He was a boy, darn it. Weepy confessions of feeling were not something boys did. Even when they sincerely felt a love too great to remain silent.

"It isn't just that you've helped guide me through my troubles. It isn't just because you never gave up on me…or that you never let me give up on myself," Ryou took a deep breath. "If you'd never given me any help at all I would still love you so much…I felt it the moment you came into my life, the first night you…you let me stay at your side. It's…it's like you've always been a part of me, of my family I mean. I-I want to help you, to laugh with you…to even argue with you. I want you to be there to laugh at how much Bakura and I can't seem to keep our hands off each other, I want you to be there to groan about exams with me…I-I don't think…I don't think I could handle losing you…after all I've already lost."

Nizuki just stared at Ryou during this entire speech. She didn't say anything, and her usually expressive eyes didn't radiate any emotion that Ryou could read to guess at what the angel thought. She just stood there and listened, her posture relaxed and unaffected.

Ryou wasn't sure what to say now that he'd let his feelings go. In a weird way it felt like he was a man proposing. His entire life depended on how Nizuki answered. He could go back to Bakura and still feel gloriously loved, even if Nizuki brushed him off, but his life would still be different. He would either have Nizuki held closer to his heart than ever before, or he would have lost another sibling.

Finally, just when Ryou felt he was about to break, Nizuki sighed and smiled. "You have no idea how happy that makes me that you feel this way."

Ryou wheezed and nearly collapsed in relief. Nizuki laughed at him for it, but that was just fine. Nizuki cared about him. She really and unnecessarily cared about him. Her job was to love him, but now it was also her choice.

"I don't know how you did it, Ry-chan," Nizuki laughed, "but something about you, and Bakura, and all the lives here in Domino City broke through the shields I built around myself to keep myself from ever fully loving a protectorate, like I loved Torrance….Until you I wouldn't have dreamed that I even had any AFFECTION for Bakura, of all people!"

"He's a great thief," Ryou sobbed and laughed at the same time, "he can steal people's hearts just as well as he can steal their gold."

"True enough," Nizuki grunted, in play-annoyance. "But I don't think Bakura would still be Bakura if he wasn't like that. I love him, and I love you, and I love Yugi and Nero and…all the great acquaintances I've made here. Being a part of your life…being able to interact with you, instead of silently leading you…it's warmed a part of me that I had pacified with my attachment to Nero. I want to be part of this life, not because I want to guide it, or that I'm impatient to love you, but because there would be something missing inside me if I waited to meet you again after this mortal life is over."

"…B-But you have to leave soon…don't you?" Ryou's good mood began to drain.

"…It will work out…I will make it work out," Nizuki said, almost to herself. "I trust in what I am, and who I was made by…He wouldn't let me feel this way without reason."

"But how-" Nizuki just pecked Ryou tenderly and patted his head.

"It will."

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Yami couldn't deny that Nero was a great companion. He had first-hand experience with the little cherub's healing smiles. And yet, Yami also couldn't deny that it was nice to just walk alone with Yugi for once.

Three days had passed since Yugi had run off on some mysterious super-angel business. Since then nothing had seemed to have changed, and Yugi was still as preoccupied as ever. Yet there was definitely something different. Nero wasn't hanging around as much, and Yugi seemed to be trying harder than ever to be in keeping with the spirit of the season, despite his gloominess.

To be a bit poetic the current situation made Yami feel like he had during the tense rainy season in his original home. It felt as though the first rain-shower had passed by safely, but the monsoon had yet to start.

"-so then Mitsuko screams that if Atsushi wants to be on stage so much then he better be prepared to face the consequences if his stitches open up. We were all so surprised that she gave in that we couldn't get in any more practice," Yugi finished up his narrative of how the Christmas Festival practice was shaping up.

Yami forcibly yanked himself out of his thoughts to catch up with the conversation.

"Well…then this performance will be all the more interesting," he commented passively.

Yugi looked at him suspiciously, perhaps recognizing Yami hadn't really been paying attention, then threw back his head and laughed anyway. It was a rare sight to see, in these dark winter days, and Yami felt proud to have been the cause of it.

"If we all survive this performance it will be by God's mercy, and nothing else," Yugi snickered, tears of glee running down his cheeks. "Seriously, what with the costumes and the songs and even the chorography we should've been shut-down by the school board already."

"I think it would still be a grievous understatement to call Domino High an ultra-liberal, ungoverned, free-to-do-what-you-will-until-the-cops-beat-the-door-in institution if there has ever been another to compete for the title," Yami answered seriously.

Yugi began laughing all over again, barely able stand up. Yami almost wanted to join him. With all the scandals, protégés, human combustions, outbreaks of hysteria and schizophrenia it was a wonder the school still managed to stay open at all.

"Oh my gawd," Yugi finally slowed down to a wheeze. "I'm almost afraid to have you come to the show."

"I wouldn't miss it for anything," Yami said, reaching out and squeezing Yugi's shoulder. "It's an important event for you…and I've missed enough important things."

Strangely, instead of cheering Yugi up this act seemed to drain the joy from Yugi's face. The boy shrugged Yami's hand off his shoulder and put on his most aggravatingly unreadable smile.

"You don't have to be sorry for something like that Yami. I've always been fine on my own; maybe I haven't been precisely happy, but that's okay. I'm used to it, enough that it doesn't bug me anymore. It really doesn't. I'm okay."

Yami couldn't be sure, but he didn't think his hikari was even talking about him any longer. There was something haunting in the way Yugi said it didn't bother him that made Yami think there was probably some bigger source of loneliness sitting unmentioned in his other-half's past, messing with Yugi's mind and mood.

'_And people always think I'm the one with the mysterious past,_' Yami thought to himself.

"Well I still plan to come," Yami said shortly. Yugi just shrugged and continued the trek to the game shop. Yami silently fell into step behind him.

The two boys continued to walk along in silence. Too much foreign territory and forgotten pain was sitting between them to let even the most mechanical conversation get through.

The dueling-duo reached the turn up to the Kame Game Shop and where about to start the walk up to the entrance when they noticed, with some confusion, an out-of-town taxi addling on the curb.

"…Do you think Prof. Hawkins is visiting?" Yugi asked.

"After this last visit that seems unlikely," Yami answered honestly.

Both boys looked at each other in confusion then unanimously agreed to investigate.

"Um… konnichiha," Yugi greeted the tax-driver informally while Yami turned his sennen senses on the building, looking for any potential traps, "uh…can you please tell me about the fare you dropped off here…um if that is not too intrusive?"

The driver shrugged and turned down his radio to a more conversation-letting volume. He then scratched his stubble and said in a ponderous tone; "I'm not exactly sure how to describe her, but if you're willing to stretch your mind around it, I guess I could give it a shot."

Yami jolted in shock at what his senses had found, but Yugi wasn't paying attention; "Yes please."

"Okay well I picked this girl up at the airport…well she's not a girl really. I mean she can't look more than twenty but the passport she was carrying around said forty. Really weird, but you know some faces just age well. Anyway this girl slides into the cab and tells me she wants to go to the game shop owned by Solomon Motu. I kinda look at her like I look at most of my off-beat costumers and ask 'where exactly would that be'. She looks back at me in a panic, like she doesn't know the way herself and then…well this is the really weird part, then there was this sort of …light by my side…like one of those weird glimmers meant to stand for ghosts in the M. Night Shamalyan flicks, you know that Sixth Sense one. And this light…it just sorts of plops down in my front-seat, like it was a kid or something and all of a sudden I know the way. And it wasn't just that I knew the way, I mean I was like COMPELLED to follow the directions my brain was gettin'. Next thing ya know I wind up in this little part of Japan right in front of the fare's drop-off…I tell you what, it's the weirdest thing I have EVER felt and I don't think I'll leave for a while yet. I gotta get my head right to deal with the traffic back up the way."

Yugi stared in surprise at the driver for a long moment, before catching himself and politely ending the conversation.

"I think I know why Nero has been gone the past few days," the Prince of Games told his partner as he walked back up onto the sidewalk. "I'm not entirely sure who, but Nero seems to have led someone back home to us."

"Uh…Yugi…I think I know who," Yami coughed awkwardly.

"Huh, really? Who do you think it is then?" Yugi asked unconcerned.

"Well, I can't be totally sure until we actually see inside but…Yugi, I think Nero brought your mother here."

CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND

Masaka: ONCE AGAIN I HAVE PULLED A GOOD CHAPTER OUT OF NOTHING!!!

Yami Masaka: Wow! You actually tied up the feelings in this itty bitty bridge chapter. You built off Ryou's comment, you kept the angelic faith unpolluted AND you brought in our big plot point

Nero: I was in invisible mode for taxi driver-san, if anyone is confused as to what conversation was about.

Nizuki: Wow, when you said you didn't want to take credit for my blessing and that you had plans of your own…you REALLY meant it

Nero: Nero sure did. Yugi-sama cannot feel happy by himself unless he stop feeling like he the type that cannot get friends. Joey-san and Ryou-san are very good friends, but they are only friends. Yugi-sama's heart is still hurting in way that only this can help

Nizuki:…or it will cripple him and ruin all his progress. One of two options really.

Nero: I KNOW WHAT I DOING, ONEE-CHAN!! BETTER THAN YOU!!!

Nizuki: all right, all right, no need to get huffy.


	44. Dear Heavens, Mommy Dearest

Yami Masaka: This year suuuuuucked

Masaka: *weeping heavily* I got 'd's on so many papers! I NEVER GET 'D'S ON PAPERS!! WAAAAHHHH

Jason: Ah phooey, who cares about stupid school work anyway?

Masaka: I DO!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!

Jason: *shaken, rattled, and disturbed* Wha- oh Masaka cutie, I'm sorry, I forgot! No talking grades with a perfectionist, just….oh ignore me and pay attention to the nice story, you know the thing you're really good at, along with manga-drawing, and helping people study for a final completely in an under five-minute cramp session and-

Yami Masaka: *hip-checks Jason out of the way and greedily snuggles Masaka* just leave her along dog

Jason: B-But!

Yugi and Nero: CHAPTER START!!!

HEAVENLYINTERVENTIONS HEAVENLYINTERVENTIONSHEAVENLYINTERVENTIONSHEAVENLY

Yugi didn't really remember running inside the house. He didn't remember his grandpa trying to warn him to calm down. Yugi didn't remember Yami trying to grab his shoulder and trying to reach his mind to help calm his nerves.

From the moment he heard that his mother was at home, -finally truly home-, until the moment he set eyes on her Yugi's life was a fast-blur.

Then he saw her.

Kaida Moto looked just as beautiful and graceful as the moment she'd walked out of Yugi's life. The woman's maroon hair was a little longer, gliding down to her waist with a control Yugi wished his own hair would show, and her periwinkle eyes seemed a little bit more tired than Yugi remembered but nothing else had changed.

His mother, that petite little elf that barely broke five feet from whom Yugi had inherited nearly all his physical features, was just as Yugi remembered her.

And how he hated her for that.

Half of him wanted to dive into his mother's arms and cry while the other half wanted to scream every obscenity that Yugi had ever heard and make the woman run away.

The two passions were equally balanced within his soul, both laced with the burning hate Yugi felt…as well as the equally acidic love he felt. Together the impulses arrested all movement from Yugi's legs and the boy was helpless to do anything but stare at the woman who had first taught him that love was not eternal.

A long moment passed and neither person moved. Finally Kaida seemed to gain her composure because she stood up weakly from her chair –Grandpa's reading chair- and she smiled hesitantly at him.

"Y-Yugi," Kaida's voice dragged through every nostalgic fiber of Yugi's soul, "you…you're quite grown up now."

Yugi just stared at the woman a little longer until his brain strikingly realized that his long-missed mother's voice was laced with surprise.

"What? Did you expect me to be the same seven-year-old boy that you ran out on?" Yugi croaked, as if the muscles of his throat had been silent for years, waiting for this conversation.

Kaida grimaced at Yugi's words and nearly stumbled back down into her chair. The photo-album she'd been looking at slipping off the arm and landed open on one of the pages showing Yugi's father.

For some reason, that image burned its way right into the back of Yugi's mind. Never mind that he was about a foot and nine inches too short, some part of Yugi recognized that now…he looked a little bit like his father. He recognized that in some small way he had grown to be the same strong mountain Hidoshi Moto had always been. And that thought just pissed Yugi off further.

"Must be something huh," Yugi chocked back what might have been a hysterical chuckle, "coming back and seeing his face on your little boy. Must be really, really painful huh?"

Kaida looked at Yugi in confusion, then gasped and looked down at the photo album. Tears began to bead at the corners of her eyes and she took a step towards him.

"Yugi-"

More than he'd pulled away from demons, duel-monsters or zombies Yugi leaped away from his mother's touch. In his mind he heard a childish scream of protest at the move but Yugi forced himself to ignore it. He couldn't let her touch him, he couldn't lose all that he had gained.

"NO! NO! YOU STAY BACK!!" Yugi screamed at her. Kaiba nodded numbly and dropped her hands.

Another impossible moment of silence stretched between them, as thick as toffee and as sickening as overripe peaches.

"Why…why did you come back?" Yugi shivered.

"I…I…think I was told to," Kaida laughed nervously and rubbed her scalp, in a fashion hauntingly familiar to Yugi's own mannerisms.

"You…were told to?" Yugi snickered bitterly. "After ten years…after a DECADE of stupid pre-written Christmas cards, New Years money slips and cashier's check birthday cards you just…just felt you were 'told to' come and you did?"

"Yugi…please, I know I did…I know how I just left you like I did…but you have to know, I never meant-"

"NEVER MEANT TO WHAT!!" Yugi screamed so loud that he was sure that nosey Mrs. Honda from next-door would come running in at any moment. "YOU NEVER MEANT TO ABANDON ME? NEVER MEANT TO MAKE ME FEEL WORTHLESS? NEVER MEANT TO MAKE ME FEEL SO SCARED AT LOSING SOMEONE I LOVE T-THAT NOW I BARELY HAVE THE COURAGE T-TO TELL EVEN MY FRIENDS I LOVE THEM WITHOUT THE PRESSURE OF A DEATH-MATCH HANGING OVER MY HEAD?"

"Yugi-" Kaida whimpered.

"NO!" Yugi slapped his hands over his ears. "NO! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!! I JUST GOT BETTER, KAIDA!! DAMN YOU, YOU STUPID BITCH! JUST THESE LAST FEW MONTHS I'VE GOTTEN SO MUCH STRONGER!! I-I KNEW HOW TO REACH OUT TO PEOPLE…I-I WAS FINDING MY VOICE!! I-I DON'T WANT TO LOSE THAT AGAIN!!"

"PLEASE YUGI! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW LONG I'VE-" Kaida tired to scream over Yugi's own shrieks.

"I WAITED TOO!!" Yugi dropped his hands from his ears to ball them into fists. "FOR TEN YEARS I WAITED!! EVER SINCE YOU LEFT ME ALL ALONE HERE! Do you have ANY idea how long that is, Kaida-san? That's ten summers, ten falls, ten winters and ten springs filled with NOTHING!! I spent ten YEARS stumbling through my life, not knowing who I am because I was left with nothing more than a few blurry photos and a handful of impossible bedtime stories! I went through ten YEARS of mental anguish trying to get over the pain and betrayal! TEN YEARS BEFORE I FINALLY FELT WORTHWHILE AGAIN!! And yet…here you are, like some greedy malevolent cancer, come to knock down all the strength I've built up and send me right back to the place where I started. You…you couldn't ha-have just stayed away? WHAT GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO COME BACK AT ALL? You couldn't stay away…no you just HAD to come back and throw it in my face how unlovable and worthless I am for a second time."

"Yugi, I came back because I wanted to see you-"

"YOU WANTED TO SEE _HIM!_ YOU WANTED TO SEE MY FATHER IN MY FACE!! YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM!! ALL I AM TO YOU IS A REPLACEMENT FOR YOUR STUPID _SOUL-MATE!_ FOR YOUR GOD-DAMNED PRECIOUS HIDOSHI! WELL GUESS WHAT? THAT ASSHOLE IS DEAD! HE DIED AND HE DIDN'T EVEN LEAVE BEHIND ENOUGH OF HIMSELF IN ME TO LEAVE EVEN A PASSABLE RESEMBLANCE! ALL I HAVE IS YOUR UGLY FACE!! I-I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU! YOU GAVE ME YOUR FACE YOU STUPID BITCH!! HOW C-COULD YOU LEAVE ME WITH YOUR FACE!! I-I HATE YOU!!"

Kaida reared back a hand, as if she wanted to slap him but then she just reached up to touch her own face. She traced the outlines of her own eyes, her own cheeks and her own lips. Yugi hoped she noticed the similarities.

Yugi wanted to keep screaming. He wanted to throw everything that had ever gone wrong in Kaida's face. He wanted to yell at her for his years of being bullied, his years of putting himself through hellish shadow games for the sake of a friendship that would have grown just as strong without the blood; he wanted to even blame her for cutting his wrists, even though he knew she had nothing to do with it. He wanted to make the stupid hussy cringe and cry and fall to the ground in pain. He wanted to make her feel, even for one moment just as bad as he'd felt as a child, sitting in his room staring out the window knowing that his mother was out there somewhere not thinking about him at all.

And yet something held Yugi's tongue. Perhaps it was some heavenly intervention, or perhaps it was simply the chill of December weakening Yugi's vocal-chords, but Yugi suddenly had no more strength to speak.

Instead of speaking then, Yugi decided to run. His last glimpse of his mother was Kaida pulling her hands away from her cheeks in something like shock or disgust and then he ran.

Yugi burst back through the kitchen, past his grandpa and his other who were calling his name, he burst out the kitchen door, skidding down the icy back steps in his mismatched house-shoes –that he certainly didn't remember changing into- and out into the street.

'_What have I done?'_ Yugi whimpered to himself as he darted down the street, '_What did I say? How could I say that to my mother? How could I say that to HER? God, maybe she had a reason to leave, maybe I was always this horrible? Maybe that's the reason why no one has ever really loved me? M-Maybe that's the reason I can't make Yami forget-'_

Yugi's thoughts shut down as a blanket of wordless, depthless pain suddenly burst out of that closed door in his mind*. The sentries at the door to Yugi's mind suddenly fell down and a black ooze like putrid, liquefied flesh poured over every other thought and memory making even the slightest flicker of reason burn like the prongs of Satan's trident.

So Yugi didn't think. Yugi just ran. Without care or concern for his own self-preservation, or for the man who even now Yugi could feel trying to hammer his way into Yugi's mind, the boy charged down the snow-slick streets. His legs pounded as his muscles were forced into over-drive. His heels crashed endlessly against the frozen pavement, the force jarring enough to send tremors of pain through the arches of his feet.

Several times Yugi slipped on the patches of ice. The first time he lost his slippers, the second time he tore up his left palm, the next two times he bloodied his knee. Each time Yugi lurched back onto his feet like a man electrocuted and continued to run.

Once or twice Yugi burst across a street, neither noticing nor caring about the traffics lights of the screeching cars. Only a divine hand kept him from being crushed into the powdery white on the ground.

Though earlier the temperature hadn't seemed so bad, Yugi now felt the slight December breeze cutting through his bones like a cleaver. Yugi's lungs convulsed painfully, squeezing out more and more heat to pull in more and more of that frightening chill. Acid seemed to leak through his veins instead of blood.

Suddenly the brilliant neon slender of midtown danced around Yugi's eyes, and then these lights gave way to the brittle skeletons of Domino Park. Yugi staggered onward, not sure why he was here but too scared to stop.

That's when Yugi saw it, the most beautiful sight in the entire world only a yard up the frozen path. It was the church that Nero and Nizuki had been drawn into. That same little chapel where the small Nativity was dressed on the undersized lawn, with Nero's scarf still wrapped around the Holy Infant from before the meeting with Nakagato had truly started **.

With what felt like the last remnants of his strength Yugi charged into that blessedly open, blessedly unoccupied congregation room, right into the sanctuary itself.

An angel, Yugi could barely think to identify with Nero, stood at the head of the room on a pedestal dressed in marble white. Yugi threw himself at that being's feet and wrapped his hands around the cold pale ankles with trembling hands.

A thousand words of pain, misery and need rushed for Yugi's tongue all at once. He gasped and chocked, trying to tell his savior, tell his angel what was eating him alive from inside, what was worse than the parasite that had nearly killed him once, that was trying to kill him now. He tried to beg for help, beg for death, beg for oblivion, beg for ANYTHING that would stop all this pain he felt, but all that came out…were sobs and tears so hot they felt scorching on Yugi's frozen cheeks.

Once the tears started Yugi couldn't seem to get them to stop. He cried for his father, for his mother, for his grandfather that had to deal with losing a son and trying to raise a child all on his own. He cried for the lonely childhood he'd suffered because Yugi had been just too afraid to be left alone again. He cried for Tea, who after bursting into his heart turned out to be just as heartless as every other woman he'd cared about. He cried for Joey, who had begun to hate him and then somehow came back even while Yugi was preparing himself for the abandonment all over again. He cried for Ryou, who had been able to so bravely shoulder this sort of pain when his lost his own mother and his own sister. He cried for Darrin, who even damned as he was had been brave enough to reach out and take that redeeming love that restored his soul.

Yugi coughed as he suddenly remember to breath, but couldn't stop crying long enough to pull a full breath of air into his lungs. Even when he'd regained his breath, however, he kept right on crying, sobbing for all his friends who were so much stronger than him…who hadn't been abandoned like him…who he was afraid to love…at the same time who he loved so much that it physically, mentally and spiritually hurt.

And just as Yugi's body was about to give out completely under the stress and release Yugi into that empty, cozy darkness Yugi could've sworn that he heard a comforting voice, one that sounded like Nero only older…stronger…holier.

_/"It is alright now Yugi. You have cried enough. Now it is time to rest and when you awaken… you will find the strength and love that you've truly wished for. When you wake up…you will be your own heart's deepest wish."/_

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Yami had no idea what he was supposed to do. He nearly had a handle on what was going on. He'd told his aibou that his mother had come home and the boy and run from his into the house. Then when Yami thought Yugi would be so happy…the body broke down into tears and starting exchanging screams with his missed matriarch.

Now Yugi was running out the door and Yami wasn't sure what to do, or even if he was allowed to do it.

"Yugi! Mrs. Moto, she and Yugi-" Yami gapped helplessly looking back and forth between the kitchen door and the living-room doorway ***.

"Oh my, I was fairly certain this would happen," Solomon huffed in a sensible tone of voice that Yami really envied.

"W-WHAT SHOULD WE DO? Ah! Oh! I-I'll go get Yugi and-" Yami turned to the door. He didn't get more than a step towards the frame before a surprisingly strong hand grabbed him by the collar and hauled him back, slamming him down into a kitchen chair.

"No, no Yami-san, this is not something you interfere with," a voice that sounded a little like Nero's said from behind him, sending Yami further into a tissy of confusion.

Before Yami had a chance to even turn around that pretty lady whose energy Yami had been able to identify without having met her, came tottering into the room.

"S-Solomon," Mrs. Moto whimpered, "Yugi, he-he ran away from me!"

Solomon motioned strictly for Yami to stay silent then walked over to his long missing daughter-in-law and pulled her into a gentle hug.

"Well what did you expect? The poor boy was probably shocked beyond all logical thought seeing you here like this."

"T-then …h-he does hate me," Mrs. Moto whimpered into Solomon's shirt. The old man laughed warmly and pushed Kaida back far enough that he could wipe away her tears with his handkerchief.

"Oh Kaida, Yugi doesn't HATE you. You're his mother for heaven's sake. Right now he's just…confused. He is hurting and doesn't know what to do with his love so he's causing himself to be even more miserable."

"B-BUT WHY? H-He should feel any PAIN b-because he has a loving heart!" Mrs. Moto wailed even louder.

"If you'll recall dear…you were very much the same way with my son," Solomon smiled.

Mrs. Moto dropped off into silence and Yami watched as her face drifted through the expressions of confusion, embarrassment, slight joy and slight pain. And for some reason the entire time Yami kept comparing the woman's soft features with Yugi's own.

They really were so alike.

"So…so…i-if I go out and l-look for him…m-maybe he will be calm enough to talk?" Kaida sniffled.

"I think that is a very good idea," Solomon nodded.

"I-I'll hel-" Yami started to say, but that weird hand that had grabbed his collar seemed to slap over his mouth.

"You'll want to take his shoes along with you, as he seems to have run off without them," Solomon handed over the platform boots along with Mrs. Moto's own shoes and coat. "And you'll probably want to start the search in the park, as that is where he usually runs to when he's upset."

"T-the park…r-right…" Mrs. Moto dressed up for the cold, hugging Yugi's boots to her chest protectively like they were some more intimate possession of her son's.

"…Oh and Kaida," Solomon said when Mrs. Moto reached the foot of the stairs.

"Y-yes, w-what is it Solomon?"

"…Be sure to tell the boy exactly what you've been up to in America, I'm sure he'd like to know," Solomon winked.

Mrs. Moto blushed and nodded and Solomon closed the door and turned his attention back to Yami who was, if at all physically possible, even more confused now then he had been.

"Nero was it, can you please take on a physical form for us," Solomon sighed, staring at the space beyond Yami's shoulder ***.

"Okie-dokie Yugi-sama's-grandpa-san," Nero chirped and there was a strange pop.

Yami turned around to start telling the angel off…when he actually got a good look at the angel and lost his words yet again.

"Oh my, I see all this excitement has brought out your adult-side, how nice for you," Grandpa smiled compassionately.

The now five-foot-five angel smiled nervously and brushed his slightly shorter hair out of his face with a much more sinewy and masculine hand.

"You're…like an actual…teenager…now," Yami somehow chocked out.

Nero blushed again and nodded. "Is because I took on wish myself…and now my skills are noticed…if only subconsciously."

"Skills…wait…YOU MEAN THIS WHOLE MESS IS YOUR FAULT!!" Yami leapt angrily to his feet.

"Sit down stupid-head, before you jump into whole other problem that does just as well without you," Nero snapped right back at Yami's ire.

Yami helplessly flopped back into his chair and Nero gave and apologetic sigh and bow.

"I sorry, but you must listen before you say anything. Yugi-sama…Yugi-sama's whole wish has been for love…but he is not in state fit to receive it. If I left things as they were, Yugi would fall into situation just like Ryou-san…both boys love well, but not wise. I had to fix for Yugi-sama…and had to give him love that no other is capable of substituting."

"His mother?" Yami cocked an eyebrow.

"That of the parents who shaped him into who he is…who maybe more than any on Earth can help Yugi…feel what he feels," Nero clasped his hands over his heart.

"That is such sh-" Yami started to snarl.

"You came back a little more mature yourself after meeting your own father, now didn't you," Solomon unhelpfully noted. Yami scowled at the old man but Yugi's jii-san just grinned right back. Suddenly Yami felt all sympathy for Nizuki ever having to deal with the old codger.

"It is painful…seeing Yugi-sama so upset," Nero sighed.

"Well it's your fault now isn't it!" Yami snarled and Nero popped out of sight, probably to go cry on Nizuki's shoulder and commiserate with the angel about how hard it was messing with people's lives, because that was how Yami saw it…they were all, demons and angels alike, interfering forces in people's lives.

"That was a little mean," Grandpa huffed while Yami just turned his attention inward.

_//Yugi? Yugi? Can you hear me? Yugi come on, please talk to me. It's me! You can trust me with anything!//_

A dark tremor of emotion and a fate childlike shrill of pain greeted Yami's prodding.

_//YUGI! YUGI! YUG-//_

The link snapped shut and the force rebounded into Yami's head, sending the former pharaoh stumbling backwards out of his chair.

"If he doesn't want to talk to Kaida, a woman he's waited all his childhood to see again, what made you think you'd have any more success?" Grandpa chuckled.

"I'm his other-half!"

"And you are just as at fault for leaving Yugi alone as she is…or as I am," Grandpa snorted.

Yami flinched and clasped his hands together, feeling absolutely and utterly disgusted with himself.

Grandpa sighed and walked over to the kitchen cabinet reaching back into the depths of the storage to pull out a little something to ease the upcoming awkward conversation.

"Peanut butter cookie?" ****

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Nizuki was in the attic when Nero dropped in on her. She had her wings fully spread, charging up on the slightly less savory mid-day sunshine, and had a scroll stretched out over her knees.

Though she still looked terribly weak and faded Nizuki at least didn't seem to be the complete wreck she'd been ever since the demon game.

"NIZUKI-NEE! NIZUKI-NEE! WHAT HAVE I DONE?" Nero popped into view right at Nizuki's elbow, wrapping his arms tightly around her shoulders for comfort.

"Whoa! Hey there weepy, what is going on?" Nizuki jolted in shock.

"I-I w-wanted help Yugi-sama and s-so I spelled a Miracle of Calling on Mama-Yugi-sama 'cuz I could feel from tips of my wings that they needed to met again to help each other become best souls and…and…Nizuki-nee is that application form for Judgment Angel position?"

Not knowing exactly which side of this disjointed exclamation she should start with Nizuki just took on the easier question first.

"Yes, this is an application scroll…I'm hoping to send it Up before my official case-time ends. That way I'll be switched over to an Earth-permanent position before Ryou even has a chance to worry about never seeing me again."

"But…Nizuki-nee….Judgment Angels is scary bad-asses who specialize in destruction of entire cities and guard the seals of Armageddon," Nero blinked.

(A/N: Nero just said bad-ass? …why am I imagining that is so cute?)

Nizuki blushed and rolled the scroll shut with indignity. She had thought of all angels Nero would understand, but no, the little slug-about cloud-snuggler just HAD to mature to the point of proper guardian behavior just when Nizuki needed someone to sympathize with her desire to stay with a protectorate.

"You said you were feeling bad about Yugi?" Nizuki coughed.

"Yes," Nero slid off Nizuki's shoulders to kneel at his sister angel's side. It was only then that Nizuki really bothered to look over Nero's new matured appearance.

"He'll be fine, if he wasn't you'd still be a cherub," Nizuki sighed with a bland finality in her voice.

"Bu-but he crying-"

"That's fine," Nizuki flopped back onto the floor, softening her wings beneath her into an airy mattress of outward appearing spirit*****. "If Yugi-sama is upset that means his entire world is being readjusted. Changing yourself often hurts…though you'll always find that the pain is actually pretty helpful in steeling you up for whatever will come next."

"B-But I not like you Nizuki-nee! I not the 'knock-their-heads-together-until-they-learn-something' type!"

"You know, I'm almost to the point of throwing you out of here you little ingrate," Nizuki seethed in annoyance.

"AH! NOOOOO! Nizuki-nee!!!" Nero sobbed even louder.

Nizuki huffed in annoyance and got back to her knees. She took Nero's chin in her hand and forced the cherub to focus on her.

"You love Yugi-sama, right?"

"Right."

"And you trust God and His will, right?"

"R-right."

"And you know that God would never give you more than you can handle, right."

"…."

"NERO!"

"R-RIGHT!"

"Right, okay then you need to just relax and stay the course. This…this will probably be your last act for Yugi-sama before your called back home. So you need to be strong and be prepared to leave. You have given him all he needs …he doesn't need your tears as well."

Nero sniffled for a while longer, as Nizuki expected him to, then dabbed his face with his handkerchief. The not-so-little angel then sighed and smiled, showing he was all better.

Nizuki smiled back and ruffled her 'little brother's' hair.

"So…you really gonna be a bad-ass?"

Nizuki popped the boy over the ears.

"I'm just trying to stay closer to Earth is all! You have to try everything when you have the opportunity, otherwise you might just fudge the Great Plan. If I get rejected that's fine but…well…I'm gonna try and conserve my powers to the last possible moment."

Nero looked thoughtful at this but then he grimaced and tilted his head to one side. "Nizuki-nee…you gonna end up going Home a mess. Angels not supposed to use up EVERY energy on Earth, that makes them fade apart into itty-bitty pieces that gotta all be stitched back together again."

"I'LL BE FINE DARN YOU!!!" Nizuki wailed.

CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND

Yami Masaka: I think I like that little scene between Nizuki and Nero but it seems like an odd place to end

Masaka: Nizuki's plots are important to how the story will end and the sequel begin

Jason: If we ever GET to the sequel…and where were Ryou and Bakura doing during this little moment?

Nizuki: Oh them…eh they're off 'getting to know one another in order to form a more healthy non-succubus-charm-contaminated relationship'…or something along those lines.

Nero: I AM GROWN UP! YES! WOO-HOO! I STILL TALKE WEIRD BUT NOW I AM GROWN-UP!!

Masaka: you'll always be a cherub to us, Nero

Nero: *sulking in the corner*

Jason: Okay folks, now we gotta say some stuff. What are the little asterisks for?

*this is to remind you of the chapter where Yami is talking to Yugi about his father. Remember that the memories of his parents were guarded by teddy-bear sentries with pikes…ya well…now there is no door, that thing got blow right off its freaking hinges by the intense emotional shock of meeting his mother again

**There was a little chapter that Masaka1 had edit out where Nero and Yugi went to look at the lights in the park. Nero and Yugi came across the Nativity scene at the church and Yugi, at Nero's prompting, wrapped his scarf around the Baby Jesus because Nero thought the baby looked cold in the snow as he was. The only way we could retain this cute moment was by a sort of unmentioned flashback to the meeting with Nakagato where Yugi and Nero were at least in the vicinity of the church

***Yami is so polite that he can only call Yugi's mom, Mrs. Moto. It probably also has to do with the fact that he has no idea how to treat such a relative. Yami knows how to act around Solomon, but a mom is a completely different creature of etiquette

**** Yah Solomon knows all the tricks about angels because of his former relationship with Nizuki…which is both scary and awe-inspiring all at once. OF ALL THE PEOPLE TO SUDDENLY BLOSSOM IN THE STORY!!!

***** Yugi's love of peanut butter cookies has an origin now! He loves these cookies because of Grandpa! Grandpa made them a comfort food…which is good because the poor man probably needed an easy solution for some of the issues of looking after a kid.

Yugi: Waaah jii-san! nobody loves me! Why isn't mama ever coming home?

Grandpa: Err…I love you, Yugi ah…AH! Um why don't we have some peanut butter cookies together and I'll show you how to play duel-monsters

Yugi: Yay! I love you jii-san!

Nizuki: Also if anyone is interested about that scroll I was scribbling on, let us now so we can put a little more about it in the next chapter.

Nero: The next chapter which has part that were MEANT to be in this chapter, but didn't turn out to fit in here at the last second

Both: Dang it Masaka1 stop rewriting the story just as you put it on the computer!

Masaka: LEAVE ME ALONE! MUSES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SILENT!!

Yami Masaka: What world do YOU live in, aibou?

Masaka: *weeping* obviously the one where I get no respect even in my own freakin mind!


	45. Love is a frail human thing

Masaka: Okay, the summer has arrived, I have time to work on this story without having to stress over one-hundred plus pages of readings…why am I not happier?

Yami Masaka: Because you were hoping to start work on your OWN novels?

Masaka: Ah…yes that's right, isn't it…hmmm

Jason: Ahh those things can wait. Masaka you haven't gotten into those kids' souls quite as well as you have with these characters….personally I blame that on the fact that your Gabriella is supposed to be a very down-on-herself emotionally-asleep person

Yami Masaka: HEY! She has to be that way for the plot!

Jason: Yeeees, but that makes it even more stressful getting all the action together and describing the relationships going on while she just sort of …hangs there like a slug…a boring slug…

Masaka: GUYS! Shut up! My personal novel-writing has nothing to do with this audience!

Both: Sorry 'Saka

Masaka: Sheesh, muses…uh, and anyway, let's get this dung-ball rolling shall we?

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Kaida didn't know where to start looking for her little boy, even with her father-in-law's suggestions. This was partly because she'd been terrified for so long of opening her heart to the last remnant of her husband at the risk of losing him as well…and partly because Kaida had been away from Domino, Japan for so long that she couldn't tell Main Street from Skid Row!

"Damn it, I'm never going to find him!" Kaida wailed after an unproductive half-hour of searching. The petite woman threw up her hands and flopped onto the nearest window ledge so that she could burst into tears in relative peace.

Every minute she was here Kaida felt more like she should have never come. She felt that Yugi was right and that she was a miserable woman who was doing more harm than good, who after being so cruel for so long didn't deserve to even have a moment of her little boy's attention.

Kaida was about to get up and head back to the Game Shop to enlist the help of the nice-looking boy who looked so much like her Yugi when seemingly out of nowhere the door to the building she was leaning against came flying open to hit her square in the face.

"The shop will be perfect! Tell your boss to drawn up the pa-AHH!" a hauntingly gorgeous voice said from somewhere beyond the stars in Kaida's eyes.

"Oooh such pretty colors!"

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Normally if Yami had managed to get hold of the precious Peanut-Butter Ginger Ripple cookies that his aibou loved so much the former pharaoh would be feeling on top of the world.

For whatever reason Yugi had always been fond of these cookies, even more so than hamburgers, and he rarely ever broke out the odd red and purple box with a mind to sharing.

Yami's new hobby, one of several he'd formed since coming back from the Other-World, was to find different ways to beg one off of his aibou, just to see if he could somehow work the same charm his other-half had in spades.

Right now, however, Yami felt that these cookies were terribly dry, tacky and as tasteful as some of the more…exotic dishes he'd been forced to stomach on holy occasion in his other life. Still, out of tradition, Yami forced himself to choke down at least one. This gave Solomon the time he needed to prepare what he had to say.

"This is…difficult…" Solomon grimaced, his old callous hands ruffling his gray hair in extreme agitation. "Yugi's parents…Kaida and my son…well…they greatly remind me of you and Yugi."

"Wha- oo' ou' 'maun-" Yami tried to talk around a mouthful of peanut butter. Solomon handed him a glass of milk and after a hearty swallow Yami tired again. "What do you mean Yugi's parents remind you of Yugi and myself?"

"They were bonded together at the very soul," Grandpa chuckled with such warmth and earnest that Yami felt a little embarrassed.

Yami had never really thought about it but at some point Solomon must have been a young man. (A/N: Hey Yami, that's rude!) Solomon must have had a wife, and he must have raised a child.

So when Solomon said something like that…Yami knew the man must have been speaking from a whole range of life experience.

"When…" Yami coughed, awkwardly breaking the silence that had formed, "when Hidoshi…err Yugi's father…your son…when he died…did Yugi and Mrs. Motu move in with you or-"

"Oh no, Kaida didn't want to have anything to do with me! She thought of me much like Nizuki does," Solomon laughed a little sadly. "She thought I was an irresponsible father who gave my son nothing but a twisted adventure-hero complex and an obviously fatalistic need to prove himself."

Yami winced at that, suddenly recognizing that Nizuki's insults really must have held a lot of weight for the old man. "And …do you think so…as well?"

"I know I wasn't a good father," Grandpa sighed, "and I know Hidoshi was a good son; so maybe …I set Hidoshi on a path he would never have been able to follow…simply because I wanted him to be me…when he was always so much better a man than myself."

Another more sullen moment of silence hung over the kitchen and Yami thought back to his own father, whose policies and irresponsible tactics had nearly destroyed the entire world. He imagined what it would have been like if he hadn't been born with the power and mind-set needed to be a shadow-pharaoh…he imagined what it might have been like if his father, like Solomon…had never reached out to him and taught him…

The thoughts that came into Yami's head were all so sad that the ex-pharaoh didn't dare hold onto them.

"So…if that's the way that Kaida felt…then…what happened…to change her mind? Why did Kaida leave Yugi in your care?" Yami asked.

"Kaida left Yugi with me because she had no one else. If she'd had anyone else I know for certain that I wouldn't be Yugi's legal guardian; just the first day alone I must have made it so hard on her being as stubborn a jackass as I was," Solomon chuckled in a mix of self-embitterment and nostalgia. "I didn't want kids in my house. I was…still very arrogant, thinking only well-tested gamblers and tricksters might provide me with any interesting company."

"O-Oh," Yami blinked in surprise. Solomon had always been so patient, if not very eccentric, so long as Yami had known him. The man had spent many long and probably agonizing hours teaching Yugi and Joey the basics of duel monsters.

"Yes…but even my superiority complex was no match for little Yugi's charm…Good lord, now that I think about it I'm actually surprised I was ever as gruff as I used to be. Yugi's puppy-dog look is still darn too powerful for the common good…you can only imagine what it was like for me when he was still small…I swear, I never had an argument with anybody that I couldn't win, so long as I had my grandson at my side," Grandpa leaned warily back in his chair.

Yami laughed but then, for a split second, his mind drew up what little Yugi must have looked like and-

"Good gods of Egypt," Yami trembled.

"Oh yes, and Kaida was just as cute. She was twenty-four when she came to the Game Shop but those eyes of hers…well…" Grandpa just shook his head. "Let's just say when they came to my door asking for a place to stay, I had no choice but to accept."

"No I don't suppose you did," Yami nodded.

Yami then watched as the expression on Solomon's face turned gloomy. It was the exact same cloudy expression that had been on Yugi's face for so many weeks and it made Yami so internally frustrated he wanted to shadow-banish something.

"…I should have seen better how Hidoshi's death was affecting her. She was in the same damn house as I was and yet…I couldn't see what was going on until she was packing her bags."

"Solomon," Yami sighed in worry.

The old gamer leaned heavily forward, propping his head up in his hands, looking so much older and yet so much younger all in the same heart-wrenching moment.

"I saw how she wasn't able to play with Yugi …I saw how she was sleeping in so late almost every morning…damn it I even saw the application papers for an American university just sitting plain as day on the kitchen table but I'd always thought that she…I thought that she would stay for Yugi…I didn't realize that for her, Yugi was another reminder of how much she had lost! If I had just helped her out a bit more right at the beginning. I could have made her feel like she had a family here, instead of just a burden she was too weak to carry…I'd heard Hidoshi's messages from after Yugi was just born…I distinctly REMEMBER him telling me that Kaida had been panic-stricken with idea of looking after a child ….God I was so very, very blind."

"…And so she just left?" Yami interrupted with a soft whisper.

Solomon nodded and leaned backwards, his hands dangling at his sides now.

"It was a school-day…Yugi was just coming up the walk when he saw Kaida throwing her suitcases into a taxi…he thought they were moving at first and he whined that he didn't want to leave after just getting settled into his new room above the shop…then Kaida told him…that it was HER that was going away for a while…that she needed to sort some things out…."

Perhaps it was the dark fury that had been howling in Yugi's mind oozing its way under the door of his own soul, or maybe it was another more intimate use of their bond altogether but Yami could swear he could see in his mind's eye the exact scene Solomon was talking about.

MEMORY

_Yugi was seven-years-old, and very delicately built. His little chest had that almost concave shape that some children seemed to grown with as well as the most adorable over-sized feet, like a puppy-dog._

_He had on his little red backpack and his school-coat. The yellow hat that went along with these school supplies, which Kaida had taken him to get a few weeks before they'd moved out of their old apartment into the Game Shop, was jammed in his pocket after having fallen off Yugi's stubbornly unrelenting hair for the third time that morning._

_"Mommy…mommy, why do you have to go?" his was saying in a quiet little lisp._

_"Mommy...I…I just have to baby, it's too painful staying here…I'll come get you later…later," Kaida said, her voice so very, very exhausted._

_"NO!" Yugi wailed, throwing himself at the teetering woman's legs. "No! Mommy! Mommy!"_

_Kaida collapsed onto her knees, throwing her arms around Yugi, holding him tightly to her own shivering chest._

_"No! Mommy! Don't leave! Don't leave mommy! I-I promise I'll be good! I'll st-study harder, and I'll eat all my vegetable and I'll listen to everything Grandpa Solomon says! I-I promise I'll be good…I promise! Don't go! Don't go mommy, I love you, don't go!"_

_"Be strong, my love," Kaida whispered in his ear, before she burst onto her feet and got into the taxi._

_"MOMMY!!" Yugi screamed, as a pair of masculine arms came and wrapped around him, keeping him from throwing himself after Kaida. "MOMMY!! MOMMY COME BACK! MOMMY DON'T LEAVE ME!! I DON'T WANNA BE ALONE! I DON'T WANNA BE ALONE!! MOOOOOOOOOMMY!!"_

END MEMORY

As suddenly as it had come the memory snapped shut and Yami found himself back at the kitchen-table with tears, actual tears running down his face.

"Yami? Oh Good Lord! What's wrong?" Solomon yelled, obviously as shocked at seeing the stern ex-pharaoh cry as Yami was surprised to be crying.

"He…Yugi…Yugi was so hurt…" Yami chocked.

Solomon dropped his hands which had been reaching for Yami and he dropped heavily back into his seat-cushion.

"Yes…he was very hurt…more than I knew how to fix. I did my best but…well…Yugi became so quiet after that…he was too scared to reach out to anyone…and he was so …so filled with kindness that if he ever came home with bruises he'd apologize to ME for causing me any worry…I was so very happy when he became friends with that Gardener (A/N: Tea) girl…and then the boys…but I will have to admit that when you came along…that wasn't what I hoped for."

THAT of ALL statements made Yami sit up at strict attention. He wasn't sure what to make of the bitterness in Solomon's voice, nor in the heaviness of the old man's gaze.

"What do you mean, I wasn't what you hoped for?"

"I just finished telling you, didn't I?" Solomon smirked almost cruelly, "You and Yugi remind me of Kaida and my son…Yugi loves you so much…and I'm always so worried that it will turn out just as bad for him…as it did for his mother."

Solomon took the place of unfinished cookies from Yami and tottered off into the store…leaving Yami to wonder exactly what on earth he was supposed to do now.

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Kaida came to in a warm place with a strange man dabbing her strangely aching forehead with a silk handkerchief.

"Are you alright there, little bird? I must have knocked you pretty hard with the door for you to just collapse on me like that," a chocolate-complexioned nineteen-year-old smiled down at her.

Kaida, naturally, blushed at the attention and sat up. She was inside an almost entirely empty store with only a small card-table and folding chair in one corner as well as some built-in shelving and a cashier's stand to break up the empty floor-space.

"W-where?"

"We're inside the store…the uh…store whose door I used to um…" the young man pointed at his own head.

"Oh God," Kaida gasped, clasping her hands over her heart. "I-I have to get out of here! I have to get back to the Game Shop-"

"Game Shop? You mean the Kame Game Shop, run by the old man Solomon Motu? How do you know them?" the man asked as he hovered at Kaida's elbow, helping her jolt to her feet without falling from head pains.

"M-my son lives there…m-my son Yugi," Kaida said hastily. She barely noticed that the name caused her accidental assailant to break into a deep grimace.

"Great, of all the people I had to go and hit…" he muttered while Kaida tried to reestablish her balance.

She'd barely managed to get two feet towards the door before the pain in her head flared up and her knees went weak. Luckily her polite stranger was there to catch her before she broke her head open the rest of the way.

"Eeeeasy there, little bird. You can't just go running around with a concussion like that," the young man said as he eased her back into one of the folding chairs.

"B-But my son ran off, I have to find him!" Kaida whimpered. "He…he was so upset with me…so very upset and I don't know what he might have done or where he might have gone or-"

"Shh, shh," the stranger said, pressing one delicate finger across her lips for silence. "You're reading a few chapters ahead of me, sweetheart. You need to re-summarize this all a bit if you want me to understand what you're saying instead of prescribing you a strong anti-psychotic for incoherence."

Kaida blushed and nodded. The young man removed his hand and Kaida tried to clarify herself. "My son, Yugi Moto, and I got into a fight a while ago. He…I…we haven't lived together for the last ten years because of ….personal reasons and today I came back and …well…"

"He freaked and bolted?" the young man offered.

"Y-Yes…" Kaida blushed again. "I-I was just out looking for him when I got tired and leaned against this building and then…well…"

"An obnoxious bastard too caught up in his own plans pounded you into street-pizza," the young man suggested again.

"Oh, that's not fair to yourself," Kaida huffed. "I was just as mindless as you back there, don't be so overdramatic or else you'll make me even more upset than I need to be."

The young man looked at her in shock and he opened and closed his jaw helplessly for a few seconds. Finally he managed to get enough mental coordination back that he muttered, "You are just like your son after all, aren't you."

"Y-YOU KNOW MY YUGI!" Kaida squealed, leaping to her feet again despite the previous near collapse. "Do you have any idea where he might be, what he might be doing, if he'll want to see me again or-"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Little bird!" the man got to his own feet (he was despairingly taller than she was as seemingly every other man alive was) while holding out his own hands for mercy. "I'm not the one you'd want to ask those questions, not at all."

Kaida dropped slightly and brushed a strand of maroon hair out her eyes. "Perhaps you aren't…but I have no other choices…I need to find Yugi and I …I don't think I can do it on my own…I…I really don't know anything about my little boy anymore."

The man looked down at her with eyes so filled with thought that Kaida momentarily thought they must have belonged to somehow at least her father-in-law's age.

"…I can…find out where you son is," he mumbled hesitantly. "I mean, I have the resources and I probably DO need the practice it's just…well…"

"Well what?" Kaida huffed. "I want a straight answer, can you lead me to my son or can't you?"

"…I can," he nodded, "I just…don't think I should…right now."

"WHY NOT!!!" Kaida shrieked.

"Because I have a doctor's obligation to make sure that you can actual make the trip before I let you out of my sight…and it will take me at least five minutes to get my supplies here," the young man coughed so awkwardly that Kaida couldn't help but giggle.

"Ah, well…how very responsible of you," she tried not to snicker.

"You're bleeding…I can't let you go about having a touching reunion with the young soul I owe so much to while you're bleeding," he huffed.

"P-Please…if you don't mind…can I ask what your name is?" Kaida continued to suppress her laughter.

"My name is…Zu-…Orchards; it's Darrin Zubarro-Orchards."

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While his mother was waiting for a former incubus to finish mending her wounds, Yugi was just regaining consciousness as well.

The boy groaned and peeled open one eye ever so slightly. A soot-stained ceiling arched wide above him and jolted Yugi with a reminder of where he was and why.

"WHAA!" the young dueling protégé jolted upright, causing the old priest who was leaning over him with a blanket to stumble back in shock.

"Heavenly Father be praised," the man wheezed in shock. "Well…at least you're awake now."

"I…I am…" Yugi blushed, suddenly feeling very empty, as if a reservoir inside him had been drained. It wasn't quite like the time Nizuki had pulled a parasite out of him…this time…Yugi felt that all the drama was completely his own fault.

"I was quite startled to see you collapse out here at our dear saint's feet," the priest chortled, pointing over his shoulder to the stone statue Yugi had been pleading with not a half-hour ago.

"S-Saint…statue?" Yugi repeated dumbly. He had thought it was an angel when he'd rushed inside.

"Yes…she is one of Japan's…more tender examples of the Holy Patrons," the priest chuckled lightly.

Yugi smiled back hesitantly as he got fully to his feet.

"OUCH! WHAT THE-" Yugi yelped as his soles hit the floor with a sharper sting than usual.

"Oh yes, I had meant to ask about that," the priest said thoughtfully. "Why exactly did you come running in here without shoes? And with bloodied knees?"

Yugi flopped back into the pew and looked over the damage he had done to himself. His soles were all aflame with really angry looking red spots but luckily (or unluckily as it were where Yugi pressed most of his body-weight while walking) only the pad of his foot was actually swollen.

"I…I…" Yugi coughed awkwardly as he dropped his foot back to the floor, "I…had an argument with my mother and I…I ran off…in a bit of a hurry."

"Ah yes," the father nodded solemnly. "That would explain some of our present situation. Of course now I must ask what sort of argument it was."

Yugi had thought he felt better but the mention of the fight sent an icy shaft through his heart. He wasn't as upset as he had been but…well he felt bad.

"She…she was trying to come back into my life…and I guess I got scared," Yugi sighed.

"Oh?" the priest asked curiously.

"I just…" Yugi flinched and looked back at his poor tattered feet.

"You are afraid to open yourself up to her?" the priest guessed causing Yugi to slump even further.

"That sounds so petty doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't," the priest reached out and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It sounds very human. I have had countless parishioners come here to pray exactly for that strength. Loving someone …truly loving someone…is not easy."

"B-But isn't it like Christian duty to love?" Yugi laughed darkly at himself.

"Well…yes, but that certainly doesn't make it any easier. In fact it just makes things more confusing…. I've had many parishioners come seeking help for the confusion between duty and love as well," the priest groaned miserably.

"I'd ask but I think I remember hearing that you guys are religiously bound to silence," Yugi laughed.

"From directly saying everything yes…but not from using what we hear to help another…in a discreet way," the priest smiled.

When he smiled the man looked a lot younger than Yugi thought. Not that the Father was young by any means but when he smiled…well it sort of reminded him of his grandfather.

"Hmmm…that's strange," the priest suddenly spoke, startling Yugi out of his daze. "W-what's weird?"

"There is something…familiar about you…like perhaps I've seen you somewhere before?"

"Err…you…don't watch much television do you Father?" Yugi laughed.

"I'm more into Karaoke myself," The man winked, causing Yugi to stumble back into hysterical giggles, "but I'm fairly certain you aren't reminding me of a news story more like…more like someone I met when I had just taken my vows…hmmm…oh it is a sad thing to lose one's memory."

Yugi smiled sympathetically and leaned back on the pew, taking a moment to just breathe and let his soul find its metaphysical center of gravity again. Hesitantly he nudged open the door to his soul-room, just to take a glimpse at the damage…

As he expected the room was a mess, the black ooze was mostly drained out but before it had gone it had managed to bleach the color out of everything it had touched. Now the chambers of his consciousness looked strangely…blank. As if someone had let Shadi inside with full reign to do whatever the hell he wanted.

/Awwh man, just when I thought I was starting to get as much control as Yami does, I get demoted back to this/ Yugi sighed at the mess.

"Son?" the priest's voice pulled Yugi back to the physical world.

"Err, it's Moto Yugi…sir…err…father…err…mister priest…guy," Yugi gagged over the title.

"Lawrence, as in Shakespeare's Father Lawrence," the priest introduced himself formally.

"Wow," Yugi smiled at the name.

"Perhaps my parents were preparing for my future with the name, eh?"

"Well…I wouldn't know, my father just named me…err for my grandpa….because my grandma had been so set on giving my father the name Hidoshi even though grandpa really, really wanted Yugi."

"Hidoshi Moto…now where ….there is that deplorable age kicking in again," the father sighed.

"He's dead," Yugi sighed.

"Oh…that's not what started the fight between you and your mother is it?"

"What? No! …At least not directly…I mean I was…she was so in love with him that ….his death was part of the reason she left but…"

"Perhaps you AND your mother need to come in for help. You both sound absolutely awful at showing your feelings…um…if you'll pardon my assumption."

"No pardon needed," Yugi snorted, "it's true…well on my part at least it is…. Maybe mom has those troubles too, but I wouldn't really know. All I know is that it has taken me years to even know my own heart…and what sucks is that everyone still calls me the most loving one…so I can't even ask for advice when I get into these funks…."

"Everyone does…what is important is that you keep trying to reach out to those you love, despite the pain and despite the confusion. Believe me when I say that love is the one thing that is both the cause of trouble…and often times the only way back out again."

"Oh THAT I know very well," Yugi laughed. He then shuddered and pulled his aching feet off the floor.

"Perhaps I should go get someone to look after those blisters," the Father said critically. "I did have a young man come in here not too long ago…quite a strange character actual. He looks so young and yet he is apparently already a certified doctor with a degree in pharmacology and general medicine."

"You don't really have to go out of your way," Yugi laughed.

"It won't be any trouble. I tell you this young man seems driven to do as much good work as the Lord can send his way," the Father got to his feet and tottered off to the phone.

Yugi watched the old man hobble off then sighed and dropped his smile. He was a little uncertain as how he felt to being compared to his mother in the way he loved. In fact he was a little bit scared at the idea. Yugi knew that he was already at the point of no return with his feelings for Yami but…but to think that he might be falling into such a situation as his mother's…

"Thank you God, that Yami and I are both men and if anything DOES go wrong at least I won't have a kid to screw over as well," Yugi sighed as he looked at his scarred wrist with simple physical curiosity. Since Nizuki had cleaned out the demons the scar had been shrinking…Yugi had actually set aside his wristbands this morning because they had seemed so small.

"…Mom…it's not you…it's the idea that I might be that weak which really scares me…I'm sorry," he sighed before dropping off into a light doze to await the doctor.

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Darrin had just finished tying the bandage in place when his cell-phone went off. Being originally from the late nineteen-fifties he couldn't help but jolt a little awkwardly at the sound.

"Uh, just a moment Kaida-san…um moshi, moshi," Darrin said as he pulled the plastic doohickey out of his pocket and placed it next to his ear.

He listened to the Father Lawrence's greetings and his apology for short-notice…and then gasped when the Father mentioned Yugi's name.

"I'll be right there!" the former incubus snapped his phone shut and whirled on his current patient.

"W-what's wrong?" Kaida yelped, making Darrin realize he'd started to leak a little demon aura in his excitement.

"I just got a call from the priest over at the chapel in Domino Park; apparently that's where your son ran too after your fight. He has some blisters on his feet and scrapped knees but he's fine."

"He is! Oh thank you GOD!" Kaida sighed so heavily her chest seemed to bow inwardly.

Darrin had to chuckle a little at the sight. It was…nice …to see a mother so worried about her child. His own mother hadn't given a damn about him or his sister, beyond sending them out to get her money so she could buy more booze and drugs.

Maybe…maybe if he could help Yugi set things straight with his own mother it would help Darrin feel a little better, even more so then his redemption parameters had been set out. The other former-demons he'd met in Purgatory all said that each case came with its own extra reward…maybe this would be his.

"…I'd…like to help you do more than find Yugi…if you'll let me…" Darrin said nervously twirling a spare roll of bandage from hand to hand. "I am not…good…at parental relationships, but I think that is how I could best give you advice. I know what I …had troubles with my mother about…everything and so I could…help you…know a little more about what you might want to say."

"You know, I'd like any advice you might give me," Kaida Motu laughed charmingly as she gathered her things in preparation to leave.

"Admit you were wrong about leaving him," Darrin snapped right away before his embarrassment could silence him. "Admit that you…you have to tell him that you were weak, and beg that he understands. You can't pressure him to forgive you either but…you have to tell him that."

Darrin's ears turned pink as Kaida looked at him and for an agonizingly longer second of time the former demon wished he hadn't said anything at all. What right did he have to give advice, given all that he had done? And how stupid and childish he must have sounded about it too? He did not sound at all intellectual or classical, just as stupid boy rambling on about stupid things that had happened more than twice this woman's life-time ago.

"…I've always known I was weak," Kaida sighed, "but I guess…just admitting it to myself isn't much help in this scenario, is it?"

Kaida's instant acceptance jolted Darrin to his core. Kaida must have noticed because she patted his arm encouragingly. Darrin smiled and felt inexpressibly better about not only himself, but about the world in general.

"Also …also you'll want to…to try and reaffirm that you consider Yugi as your own. Believe me when I say that …to a child…a mother's love and acceptance is the whole world and without it…" Darrin locked gazes with Kaida showing her silently every microgram of weight in his sullied soul, "…there is nothing to bind them to the good things in life…to keep them from making worse mistakes than any you have made yourself."

"Admit weakness, beg forgiveness, pour love on Yugi no matter what his reaction," Kaida nodded solemnly. "I think I had that all in mind myself but …what I would really like advice about is…h-how would I go about reconnecting with Yugi at all? It's been so many years and…and I have no idea what his life has been like beyond the news-clippings I have about his duels."

At that Darrin couldn't help but snicker slightly. Kaida's panic was almost perfectly counter-pointed to his own, allowing Darrin to serve as just the right conversational partner for this. He couldn't believe that he would actually have his opportunity to do more than babble.

The 'devil' was always in the details, because everyone in some fashion already knew the big picture. Kaida was a good woman and knew what she needed to accomplish with her son, she just hadn't devised a way to go about it. Luckily this 'devil' had been dealing with politics and pride for a very, very long time and Darrin knew exactly what Kaida lacked, and how to prepare her.

"Tell me Mrs. Moto how well do you know a little food-chain called Burger World?"

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_"Mutant half-breed," the brunette sneered as he shoved Yugi to the ground yet again._

_It was a bright sunny day at the Domino Park and Yugi had been innocently building pyramids in the sand. He'd nearly completed the rumored fourth pyramid of Giza when a band of bigger kid, not so talented at anything, decided to give Yugi a greeting._

_"'M not a mutant," Yugi sniffled as he watched the impersonated work of millenniums crumble to bits under his tormenter's heel._

_"Sure you are, half-bred, just look at your stupid hair. Only an alien or a mutant has hair like that," the boy continued to stomp Yugi's work._

_"NO IT'S NOT! My grandpa has the same hair I do and he's all the way all the time Japanese!" Yugi clutched his head sobbing._

_The child was about to say something when the adults came back into view. With the threat of a scolding or worse now very much possible all the boy's bravado dried up and he ran off leaving Yugi alone and in tears._

_"Oh Yugi! Yugi! Oh my precious baby, what's wrong?" Kaida saw her child's tears and ran to scoop him up in her delicate arms._

_"M-M-Ma-mama I-I'm n-not a mutant h-half-bred, I'm not!" Yugi whimpered._

_"What? Who told you something like that?" Kaida gasped as she dabbed Yugi's face with her handkerchief. _

_"A-an o-o-older boy w-who r-ran aw-away," Yugi sniffled._

_"Well…that boy was wrong, my precious one. You are a child of many nations that is true…and some …more traditional minded people might consider that something unpleasant," Kaida sneered over her shoulder at nothing._

_Yugi chocked back another sob but before it even threatened to break out Kaida was crooning over him again with a soothing affection only a mother can give._

_"But I know from the bottom of my soul that my Yugi was made just the way he was intended to be. I love everything about my Yugi from his beautiful amethyst eyes," Kaida rubbed a finger over Yugi's eyelids each in turn, "to your pink ears," she tugged playfully on the left then right lob, "all-l-l the way down to your cute little belly-button," Kaida poked Yugi's belly causing the boy to giggle. "God had a special recipe in his book for you…and all his recipes are perfect."_

_"I love you mama," Yugi squealed happily. "For always and always."_

"Always and always," Yugi repeated to himself as the childhood memory began to fade from his mind.

"What was that my child?" Father Lawrence asked, startling Yugi out of his meditation.

"N-Nothing I was just…thinking…that…I really need to talk to my mom. I sort of …forgot something important she told me once that I remembered…and I believe now more than ever," Yugi sighed calmly.

After so many encounters with angels and demons, why was it only now that Yugi was able to see what the real gift of it all was? Sure Nizuki and Nero had helped him back to Yami, but how had that happened? Because Yami had been given a second chance at seeing the world unclouded. And how had Ryou come to be so close with Bakura? Not because of Nizuki's tricks, but because the ex-thief had been forgiven his past foolishness…and had taken a second chance at life and love.

The greatest Heavenly Intervention that had come from Nero first crashing into Yugi's attic all those months ago was the chance to change everything…and an opportunity to rebuild it all better than it had been before.

"You have a deeply serene look about you right now, my son. I hope it will help you with your mother," the Father chuckled.

"By Heaven's grace," Yugi put a hand over his heart just as the doors to the sanctuary creaked open and two familiar faces came walking in.

"Yugi!" Kaida yelled.

"Father," Darrin nodded in acknowledgement.

"Dr. Orchards," the Father greeted back.

"Mom…and Darrin? What the…why are you two…" Yugi greeted them both in shock.

Kaida ran at Yugi and pulled him into her arms before the young man could ask any questions. And strangely the moment his mother's sweet baby-powder scent enfolded him…Yugi really didn't care about any of the odd things anymore.

"Oh my precious, precious boy. I'm so sorry for everything! I'm so sorry I left you, I'm so sorry I didn't come back sooner! I'm so sorry I didn't send more letters! I'm so sorry that I didn't send for you! I'm so sorry-"

"M-mom, it's okay I understand and," Yugi suddenly sniffed and pulled away from his mother curiously. "Why does it smell like Burger World in here?"

"O-Oh um…your friend here um…h-he suggested I um…bring food and um reminded me that your favorite food was hamburger," Kaida blushed as she held up a familiar red and white labeled bag.

"O-Oh," Yugi stared at it, then over at Darrin, in shock.

"Food is perhaps the greatest conduit to conversation that humanity will ever know," Darrin laughed as he walked over to the pew the Motus were still occupying. "From ancient feasts to modern-day coffee-dates we all just love to celebrate relationships alongside some heavy calorie intake."

(A/N: Remember who else said that? Nizuki had a bit of the same feeling after the zoo-rescue!)

"What are you doing here? Aren't you really risking a 'r_elapse'_ by lying to the priest over there…and '_my mother'_ besides," Yugi glowered suspiciously.

"What lie?" Darrin smirked. "I am a doctor…I just never told you that."

"Y-you…really are? Really?" Yugi gapped.

"I'll tell you more about it when we have a …less sensitive audience listening in," Darrin winked while Father Lawrence and Kaida both stared on in confusion. "For now, however, just let me take a look at your feet."

"O-okay…but I want you to know that this whole situation is being relayed STRAIGHT to Nizuki," Yugi reluctantly handed over his blisters to the ex-incubus's care.

As the dark-haired man bowed over his injuries Yugi couldn't help but notice that…Darrin looked calmer than ever before. He wasn't a tormented incubus or a rambling ex-incubus. For once…Darrin just looked like a normal person. It made Yugi curious about what had gone on between the man and his mother, but not curious enough to actually ask anything of her.

Despite his realizations Yugi was still a bit too nervous and reluctant to talk to his mother about anything.

"Yugi, I have really…no idea what you are talking about with the doctor here but…we …that is you…" Kaida interrupted nervously.

Yugi looked over at Kaida and for the first time noticed that she looked just as nervous and reluctant as he did, if not more so. She had jet-lag around her eyes and a bandage around her head and his favorite food at hand…maybe it would be okay if Yugi was the first one to cross this bridge.

"I love you mom," Yugi smiled.

"Oh and I love you too, so much my precious Yugi," Kaida hugged Yugi tightly once again.

The long parted mother and child just held onto one another for a moment, reveling in how far they had come…while regrouping and preparing for the many miles still left to go to make their relationship all that it could be.

"Kaida Motu…and Hidoshi Motu! Of course, now I remember where I recognize your boy," Father Lawrence suddenly laughed, drawing both Motus back into the world outside themselves.

"Oh, Father Lawrence, I'm sorry I didn't even see you standing there," Kaida laughed while Yugi took his turn being confused.

"Um…mom?"

"Yugi, this is the priest that married me to your father," Kaida introduced with a laugh.

"Not without a bit of protest from your father-in-law if I remember correctly," the Father squinted thoughtfully. "Solomon Motu, ran in here muttering a bunch of nonsense about unfulfilled promise and angel warnings and whatnot…"

"-Until Hidoshi rounded on him and yelled 'GIVE ME A BREAK OLD MAN, AND TAKE A SEAT BEFORE I TELL MOM ABOUT THAT REDHEAD YOU USED TO HANG ON TO'," Kaida laughed.

"-At which point the old man turned as white as a sheet and slumped over in that very pew," Lawrence laughed.

"-And then before we walked out I made Hidoshi apologize," Kaida laughed. "I swear, I never did understand what the problem was between them…but I suppose I have a better appreciation of troublesome redheads. You know since I've been in America-"

"YOWCH!" Yugi yelped as Darrin accidently tightened the bandages around his feet too much.

"Opps, sorry about that…you have surprisingly delicate feet for a boy; cute toes," Darrin chuckled.

"Oh, he has my feet only with his father's size," Kaida broke from her story to praise Yugi once again, though she seemed a bit dazed by her own affections afterwards.

Yugi soaked up for the praise for a moment then realized with a shudder from within…that he couldn't accept that love just yet. Kaida had already come so far to unite with him but…Yugi just had to ask a little more of her. He couldn't be her little Yugi so simply…he wasn't so complacent anymore. Like the way he had been taught to speak out for his heart with Yami, Yugi had to be tough…and speak now.

"You never talked about dad…at least…not for a long time," Yugi said calmly but strong.

For a moment Kaida's hands slipped from his shoulders and Yugi feared he had pushed too hard, that he hadn't learned enough about speaking up to know when silence was better but then Kaida spoke.

"Oh…no…I suppose I didn't," Kaida sighed.

And Yugi realized he had spoken right…only the subject at hand was simply one very hard to talk about at all.

A silence hung between the two while Darrin finished bandaging Yugi's feet and stood up.

"Ah Father, can I interest you in a cup of coffee? I believe your church will be a little …occupied for the next hour or so," the ex-demon brushed himself off.

"That sounds wonderful," the Father chuckled.

"Alright then…Kaida, perhaps you and Yugi could start in on that food before it gets cold?" Darrin winked as he began to walk away.

"O-oh! Yes the food," Kaida lunged at the paper bags as if they were a weapon against dire evil.

"D-Darrin, you don't…F-father Lawrence," Yugi yelped.

"I'll call the Game Shop and tell them to come by in an hour," Darrin brushed him off. "Don't waste any god-given time otherwise you'll make a mutual acquaintance of ours cry."

And just as abruptly as the ex-demon had shown up…he left along with the old man Yugi was just really starting to get to know.

The clank of the door sliding into the frame echoed painfully through the sanctuary reinforcing the silence…rather than helping to break it.

"Oh…boy," Yugi sighed softly.

He and his mother looked at each other in slight panic. Neither of them quite ready to get into such painful subjects…and yet both knowing they couldn't delay for a single minute more.

"…Um…burger?" Kaida offered.

"Sure."

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Masaka: Darrin demanded to be part of this. He just came up to my mind and strolled right into the chapter

Yami Masaka: Which isn't really all that bad only…it came out of left field…again

Jason: Seriously the more 'Saka writes the more it seems like some other force does all the writing through her.

Masaka: And besides that YUGI AND HIS MOMMY MADE AMENDS! YAAAY!!

Yami Masaka: And they are really the last problem that needed to be addressed before everything started to…well roll to the climax and conclusion

Masaka: That is if I don't kill myself first. Summer time and school time are just …well the pace is vastly different

Jason: So to make up for sleeping late when you do something you do it whole hog and wind up doing only that one task until something breaks or you finish it beyond anyone's expectations.

Yami Masaka: Like today's Wii session

Jason: Oh yah…heh now that I think about it how are you even typing 'Saka? Didn't you do a boxing thing until your arms ache.

Masaka: *arms jello* w-well

Yami Masaka: Self-Pacing…still something you have to work on

Masaka: *embarrassed blush*Anyway, next stop will be the Christmas Festival and the set up for Heavenly Interventions Two!


	46. Christmas Festival Part One

**Yami Masaka:** We have no idea if this is really the last, LAST chapter but…well it's supposed to be

**Masaka:** We'll just have to see

**CHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTARTCHAPTERSTART**

Despite the turmoil and chaos of the last few days, somehow, magically Christmas Eve arrived and with it, the local tradition of the Domino High School Christmas Festival.

With the extreme cultural mixture that resided in Domino City the usual traditions of a Japanese Christmas had been blended with the intense emotional sanctity of Western Christmas. The result of this blend was a Christmas Eve filled with jovial games and celebration, followed by a quiet Christmas Day during which the entire city would be all but shut down so that families could cozy up to their fireplaces and loved ones in heavenly peace.

Yami was particularly looking forward to the peace tomorrow promised. The last few months had been draining enough, but just the strange changes to the Game Shop since Kaida had arrived had caused former pharaoh to feel annoyed and desperate for things to get back to normal.

Yes, once this terrible night was over it would just be him and Yugi and grandpa and their quiet, calm, and totally comfortable lives. No more questions about soul-mates, no more revelations about parents or lovers or demons. It would be a silent night.

"Keep scowling like that and it will stick," a familiar dark voice spoke from the pharaoh's left drawing Yami back into the present.

"What did you say?" Yami blinked at the ex-tomb-robber.

Bakura rolled his eyes at the former sovereign and gestured to the crowd of teenagers circling Kaida Motu at the festival gates.

"Look at how excited everyone is; every single one of your friends is happy and eager to pull the little light's mother into their joy, why can't you be that excited?" the thief lectured in a surprisingly reasonable tone of voice. Bakura's sudden change of heart was another one of those changes that was weighing on Yami's mind.

"I am excited for Yugi. He has his mother back and I can sense how much good that has done both for his mind and spirit," Yami huffed.

"I sense more to that statement…perhaps a little envy? Perhaps a little possessiveness?" Bakura smirked.

"Neither! Let's just get into the festival already! Yugi's performance will start in just one more hour and I won't miss it," Yami charged past his ancient foe in a huff.

"Perhaps that little twerp angel is more of a genius than I thought," Bakura snickered from behind him. "Tonight might just be the night everything settles into the way it should be."

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Joey, being Joey, had elected himself the leader of the group. He had spent more holidays attending the festival than perhaps any of the others. Before his parents had split apart the Wheeler clan would always come to the Christmas Festival. Joey had won presents off the stall-venders every year and after the festival ended would run to his room to gift-wrap each treasure along with the small homemade items he had made in school to present to his loved ones on Christmas morning.

After his parents had split Joey had still gone to the festival either with the 'blue-nosed monkey gang' or, later, with the Honda family. Those trips had been less fun but still a steady tradition to hold his otherwise chaotic life together when he'd needed stability the most.

Joey coughed, giving his friends a piercing look to shut them up from their thousand questions towards Mrs. Motu.

"Okay Missus Motu, it's been years since ya'vve been here so listen to the expert. When ya go ta a Domino City Christmas Festival ya gotta buy some Christmas Oden," the blonde ordered as he started the group towards a small snow-hut that had been built closest to the school-gates.

"Well, you are the expert," Kaida giggled, following closely behind.

The little igloo stall was just like Joey always remembered it, tightly packed and scented with grease. Quickly Joey directed Honda to herd the group to one of the few precious tables outside the hut's entrance before he gathered up everyone's orders and bustled off like a good, responsible leader.

"You don't have to humor my brother, Mrs. Motu," Serenity whispered as Joey strolled away inside the igloo for the oden.

"Oh no, I don't mind. I'm…sort of relieved to have your brother calling the shots. It…it makes things a little less awkward for me. I wouldn't know what to do otherwise," Kaida blushed. "It's also very nice to be able to talk with Yugi's friends. It gives me a look at my son's life that I wouldn't otherwise have."

Mrs. Motu looked a little bit flushed from all the attention being paid to her, but in a strange way it also made the woman glow. The little interrogations were also shedding a much needed light on Yugi's childhood. At least three long-standing bets within the group had been cashed out just in the first fifteen minutes of knowing her.

"You know, you're really a lot like Yugi, even for not having been around for years," Honda interjected bluntly. "Is being quiet and a little self-berating like a genetic trait of your family or something?"

"Heavenly Father give me strength," Nizuki yanked the boy backwards before Kaida could answer. "Honda, you are being way too pushy. Just eat some oden and leave the woman be."

With perfect timing Joey returned at that exact moment with the food and everyone scoped out the biggest table so they could sit down to eat. The group had swollen for the holiday, including members that would otherwise not be included, which made it a little bit harder.

Nizuki and Nero were, of course, part of the group. Tonight of all nights they seemed to be all but incapable of hiding their angelic radiance. Nizuki in particular seemed to be nothing more than a whisper of divinity about to be blown away back to Heaven.

Ryou and Bakura were also within the group this year, an unsurprising change given Bakura's new personality but still a change from last year when Ryou had barricaded himself and Bakura inside for the whole month of December, to keep Bakura out of trouble by any means.

Otogi, Grandpa and Honda at least were traditional members of the group. Solomon was a little quieter tonight than he had been the last trip, but perhaps he too was just experiencing a slight change of heart because of his daughter-in-law's return.

Then finally there were the unusual guests. Serenity had struck a deal with her mother to spend Christmas and the New Year in Domino (so long as she stayed in the Honda house, far from Wheeler Senior). Mokuba had struck a similar deal to get out of the official Kaiba business celebration to indulge in the festival with Yugi-tachi. Then finally there was Kaida Motu…. Out of all the new additions she was, by far, the most sensational.

"I was just saying," Honda sulked before plunking down at the chosen table and pulling his noodles close to him.

"I know just…just be cool, alright," Nizuki sighed, for once seeming completely out of steam. The group had actually started to get used to her kind but strict lectures. Without Tea around to knock heads anymore the angel had sort of just inherited the necessary role.

"Tenshi-chan," Ryou whispered to the red-head, while the others tucked into their oden, "are you…all right?"

"We'll see, won't we?" Nizuki winked. Ryou frowned and nodded. Both of them knew what tonight might mean…though both were doing a better job of controlling their emotions about it.

"Joseph," Kaida said nervously after the food was all but finished.

"Eh wha-" Joey blushed at the formality.

"I know we elected you group leader but…well tonight is my first Christmas after so long…would you mind terribly if-"

"Say no more," Joey said gallantly. "We'll split into groups. Whoever wants to go with whoever just raise your hands."

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

And so after the last oden bowl was emptied (the food really was excellent) the group decided to break apart. Ryou, Bakura and the angels went in one direction to enjoy the last few hours of angel visitation. Joey, Serenity and the boys went in the other direction to enjoy the games as only unburdened side-kicks could. While the Motu clan made its choice to go straight to the school auditorium to check in on Yugi before the Yuletide Concert began.

Yami, personally, found this arrangement to be just a little too crowded.

"Solomon, can't you and Kaida just…wander for a few minutes? I really hate socializing with her," the ex-pharaoh begged Yugi's elderly guardian as the group reached the snow banks just outside the theater side-doors.

"My dear Atem," Solomon patted Yami's shoulder warmly, "I think you react too strongly to Kaida. Yugi is happier with Kaida around, isn't he?"

"Well, yes but-"

"Then just try and enjoy the evening. You have to keep an open-mind about people."

Yami wanted to protest Solomon's lecture; he wanted to argue that it wasn't open-mindedness he was lacking but trust. However, Solomon just wasn't the type to be argued with easily.

"Oh my goodness!" Kaida suddenly gasped from the head of the troop. "Oh dear me, I'm so absentminded. Oh 'dad', I left Yugi's good-luck gift back at the oden hut, will you go get it for me?"

Solomon looked almost ready to start mock-protesting about his age when he noticed a strange glimmer in his daughter-in-law's eyes. Fortunately for the scheme Yami was preoccupied with his thoughts allowing the old man to slip away easily.

"Yes, the gift. I'd better get it now, and the walk will help digest those chewy noodles, urp," grandpa belched meaningfully before tottering off.

He managed to get more than five feet away when Yami finally woke up from his daze.

"Wha-hey! Hey! Solomon! Don't leave me with-"

The tricky old man darted around the nearest stall and disappeared out of sight before Yami could finish. The former pharaoh glowered after the traitor then looked peevishly over his shoulder at Kaida.

"All right then, we're alone now. What did you want to say?"

Kaida blushed guiltily and looked away from Yami's direct gaze. "So you noticed my plan, huh?"

"I do now," Yami snorted at his own blindness.

"Very well then, I suppose I should get right down to it …you…you don't like me very much, do you Yami?" Kaida sighed.

"Not at all," Yami huffed.

"And I can appreciate that, honestly I can," Kaida nodded immediately in reply. "Only…only I must ask, is it that you don't like me, personally, or …that you don't like the thought of someone else who betrayed Yugi like you did…being allowed back into his loving graces?"

Yami's jaw clicked shut as the spirit took in Kaida's question. At first Yami had planned to just spit whatever question Kaida asked back in her face but then…but then some little neglected gear in his mind began to whirl, and it began to bring up the most unusual thoughts and possibilities from the depths of Yami's imagination.

"I…I have…no problem with Yugi loving you," Yami chocked numbly.

"Really? Oh dear…I guess I misjudged something myself then," Kaida flushed.

"W-what are you-"

"You see I had thought you might privately be in love with my little Yugi," Kaida laughed, "without any intention of acting on it. You showed signs of such affections anyway. You are always rejecting any suggestions I made on how we could brighten up this holiday for Yugi…then you were always turning around and doing so much to cheer Yugi's Christmas yourself, spending so much time and attention on him, like with that…that oh what do you call it…the little puzzle-box you gave him this morning."

With every sentence Yami felt his chest tighten and his face redden. He thought back on the previous week (**A/N:** someone let me know if I've messed up on the exact timing of these events) with new clarity. He HAD been aggressively competitive for Yugi's affections, without really being directly affectionate himself. Yami's desire to be the only cause for Yugi's joy and the one to be rewarded with Yugi's smiles had been a predominate drive for days.

And then there was the issue of the puzzle-box…Yami had been working on the trinket ever since he'd returned to Domino, much longer than any succubus-spell had muddled his mind or any mother had fought with him for attention. Yami had crafted the ornament to look like the box in which the puzzle had been held only with a slight change as to the final contents. When Yugi had figured out which panels to move and which slats to rotate he hadn't come across a meaningless trinket of gold…rather Yami had filled his precious gift with a silken thread soul-knot, a metaphor for how their relationship had changed since the first puzzle.

"I'm really happy that things aren't quite that far along yet because that means I still have a chance to steal my baby away to Los Angeles with me for a few months without having to feel guilty," Kaida's voice sent Yami lurching uncomfortably back to a suddenly clearer reality.

"You…want to take Yugi away?" Yami slowly tried to follow.

"Just for a little while…unless…you can think of a reason I might need to delay the trip?" Kaida asked suspiciously.

"Yes, I do have a reason," Yami suddenly found himself smiling.

"And?"

"And…it's not going to be possible for you to take Yugi away because I think there would be some very irate angels sharpening their swords against me if I am so stupid as to let all their work, all these plans for Yugi and I, go to waste."

"W-wha-" Kaida boggled, unprepared for such an answer.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Yami bowed formally, "but I think I desperately need to have a conversation with a certain boy."

Kaida giggled, really charmingly now that Yami was not too jaded to notice, and bowed back. "Oh, I think you do, Yami. Just be sure to remember that Yugi still has a performance to do. Leave him looking presentable if at all possible."

"No promises," Yami laughed, suddenly feeling freer and happier than he had for a long, long time.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

(**A/N:** Hold your water peps, the confession and the cuddling of our idiot star-heads will come)

Saying good-bye was supposed to be easy when you were an angel. As part of the Heavenly Body, an angel never truly left their protectorate, they only turned their attention to others for a while. All souls met again in Heaven, that was the beauty of it…even so…Nizuki did not want to say those words to Ryou.

There was something about the boy, his friends, even his city, that had won over Nizuki's heart. It was as if some part of her had started to think of Domino City as her own mortal home.

Nero, surprisingly, wasn't too worried about leaving. The former cherub, now ravishing adolescent, had a confidence and a serenity that any true angel would recognize. Nizuki's 'little brother' had grown beyond Nizuki's own talents to truly blossom as a brilliant guardian.

"Ryou-san does know you are leaving tonight…doesn't he?" Nero asked while the albino in question was preoccupied with buying hot chocolate.

"He knows that if I leave tonight then the case in closed and we'll only see each other again in the Choir," Nizuki sighed as she watched the hustle-and-bustle of the festival goers.

"Nizuki-nee…you sound…I don't know what the word is," Nero squinted at his companion critically. "It is not in an angel to be suicidal but…"

"I'm NOT suicidal!" Nizuki snarled. "I'm just determined! I am going to stay with Ryou!!"

"Nizuki…you can't," Nero huffed. "Your attempt at being Judgment Angel-"

"-Is still a possibility! I haven't gotten a rejection notice, have I?" Nizuki huffed.

"What I was going to say is…the test is pointless. Your time ends tonight-"

"Not necessarily. Angels are allowed all the same advantages as demons, Nero," Nizuki pranced nervously from foot-to-foot, trying her hardest to ignore the cold which was becoming steadily more ever-present in her body. "I can do what Trika was trying to do…if I can just extend my energies through this night…then I'll be classified as a free-roaming angel for a while. I can stay here as long as I want then."

(**A/N:** Nizuki had her sunlight bottle busted up once but that didn't end her official contract. The end of the demon-game kept Nizuki's guardianship intact renewing her contract, just without magic-benefits. If she stays any longer, however, she becomes a complete 'floating apparition'. It's sort of in the same ballpark as to why Trika and Darrin were pulling all their magic from Darrin's Familiar. Their contract had official expired but they tried extending their time through other means. The rules are complex but that's how they roll)

"But Nizuki-nee…demons is not built with the same energy-requirements as us!" Nero grabbed both Nizuki's shoulders and whirled the red-head to face him, "Demons are fueled by their cases and by their pride…angels….Nizuki, you and I get our energy and our drive from being His. Being in His Presence, taking in His Light and Love is what we live off of! You cannot deny yourself that…why would you even want to?"

Nizuki twitched slightly in Nero's grasp, her face contorting with annoyance. Even without tapping into his empathy Nero could tell Nizuki was thinking how aggravating Nero's new height and strength were. Nero could also tell…that Nizuki was trying very hard to not think about Nero's questions.

For a moment Nero allowed her to be silent. He couldn't really press her for these sorts of answers when just a week ago he'd been the one acting like a mess…however, as much as he wanted to let his sister-angel sort out her thoughts he had to ask-

"You love Him still…don't you?" Nero whispered.

"HOW CAN YOU EVEN ASK ME THAT?" Nizuki thundered, knocking off Nero's arms with such force that his skin started to bruise. "OF COURSE I LOVE HIM! HE IS MY CREATOR, MY MASTER, THE ONE AND EVERYTHING-"

"And yet you do not wish to be at His side once again? I do not understand you, sister," Nero shook his head.

Drained from her outburst Nizuki could only lean against a nearby light-post and giggle hysterically. "I-I don't understand me either. I-I have been trying to…f-for as long as I could but right now…I feel so conflicted and confused."

"You always pushing yourself too hard because you never think you can trust yourself," Nero pouted.

"I'm not like you Nero, I'm not pure angel," Nizuki scrubbed her eyes agitatedly with her knuckles, trying futilely to stop the tears pouring down her face.

"Is that issue again?" Nero huffed. "Nizuki, that accident was not big deal! Silver wings, the news was dripped down even to the students' ears, and if it gets to that point there is nothing scandalous left in story!"

Nizuki's giggles increased slightly at Nero's observation. The angel-students really were the most sheltered rank in all of Heaven's design, right above infant souls and cherubs. They were never given distressing news because it was considered to be unhelpful to their upbringing.

"I-I n-never t-talked about it with you…b-because I was actually a little bit afraid to know how purified my story was when you heard it," Nizuki snickered at Nero. "It was my drama and…s-strange as it may seem it would have been ego-bruising to find o-out how m-much the higher angels had censored out o-of it."

"…Nizuki," Nero sighed more seriously after giving Nizuki some time to calm down. "I hate seeing you like this. You is supposed to be the tough one. But I suppose you DO have all points saved up for one really big pick-em-up speech yourself."

"I-" Nizuki started to speak, Nero just took a step forward and put his hand over her mouth. It was a strange thing to be able to reach his sister's face without standing on his toes anymore.

"Just listen this time, Nizuki-nee. You…are an extraordinary angel. You deal with such cases as would probably make Nakagato-sensai implode with impatient rage. You have more personality than most angels allow themselves and you aren't apologetic about it. You are proud in the best way and more patient then you realize, particularly with me. So many years I spent in class not thinking about how Nakagato-sensai taught us to guide…but thinking about how you have always stewarded your protectorates. You are …you are Nizuki-nee. If you insult yourself, or do not trust yourself it isn't just yourself you are insulting but myself as well, as well as all those protectorates you've looked after, who have trusted your guidance…and blossomed under it."

Nizuki was quiet enough now that Nero felt it was safe to let his hand drop. He moved his fingers to his hair, twirling the slightly shorter bangs through his larger fingers.

"I do not like this plan of yours and I think it will only get you hurt….but I cannot say you is wrong, sister. Your ways have always been outrageous but…never wrong. Just please, promise me that if there is something that happens tonight that calls on your power to solve…if even one thing happens…please just take that as sign that you should go home. Don't overextend yourself and disappear…Nero's heart is not strong enough…I could not deal with your pain."

Nizuki looked at Nero for a long moment then she licked her lips…and licked them again before saying. "You really are such a baby, aren't you?"

Nero flustered at the unexpected response but Nizuki just giggled and leaned forward, plopping her head against Nero's wider chest.

"Okay, you win. I am an awesome angel despite my short-comings and I always do what's right even when it's wrong. I promise I won't let my conflictions ruin me…and if the need arises or if it doesn't…I won't overextend myself. When my magic reaches zero I will fade back to Heaven as peaceful as Raphael-sensai."

"Really?" Nero gaped.

"Really…I wasn't actually all that keen on being a free-roaming spirit anyway. I'd be in the same league as ghosts if I did that…and those suckers scare me."

Nero sighed in relief and brought his arms up to wrap over Nizuki's shoulders…for once holding her the way she had always held him.

"They will miss us, but it will all work out," Nero said.

"It always does…even if it's not in the form they expect," Nizuki finished. "The Justice of The Universe and The Endlessness of His Love, preface, lines 103-104."

"It is the first book a guardian learns," Nero laughed.

"In which every concern is supposedly put to rest," Nizuki laughed back.

The two angels held onto each other for a moment longer then let go, just in time for Ryou to hand over the hot-chocolate.

"So, are you two ready for some festival games?" the mortal asked.

"Oh silver clouds yes! It wouldn't be a send-off without it," Nizuki grinned.

"But-" Ryou gaped at Nizuki's words. Nero stepped in immediately, not ready for another one of those types of conversations just yet.

"Ryou-san, why is Bakura-san so smug looking today?" the cherub blinked with beguiling innocence. "After you and he took your trip to hotel, he's acted so different."

Ryou's explosive blush proved that Nero, despite his maturity, would always have the innocent look to shame and panic all mortals.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE**

There was something fundamentally twisted, Yugi decided, about stage fright.

Consciously Yugi knew that there was nothing physically nor mentally dangerous about being up on that stage singing in front of an audience. Yugi had dealt with far worse things than cranky parents, after all. And yet on the unconscious, emotional level Yugi felt as on edge as he'd ever felt fighting a deck-wielding villain.

"Uh, God in Heaven, I think I'm going to throw-up," Mitsuko's voice suddenly broke through Yugi's own private panic.

The co-captain of the club was looking particularly lovely and atypically alluring for the karaoke event, having all but staple-gunned herself into a sparkling ruby ball-gown. Unfortunately while her body looked stunning, Mitsuko's face was looking positively sea-sick.

"YOU'RE nervous?" Yugi asked redundantly.

Not even looking up from her toes, nor releasing her death-grip on the back-stage's one long vanity-counter, Mitsuko nodded in the affirmative.

"Ooooh, yes! I-I mean I…I thought when Atsushi signed me on for this club that….that I was okay with performing but now that we're actually here only a half-hour or less from going on I feel…feel…". Mitsuko's words tapered off as a nauseated gulp and belch tried to break past her lips.

Yugi watched his sempai shudder and search for stability within herself then the nasty words spurted over his mouth.

"Well that makes me feel worse than I was feeling."

Of course Mitsuko reacted to that. She was a responsible leader after all and if anything she did was unhelpfully affecting her team-mates, of course she was going to be upset. Yugi was just a little bit on the fluttery punch-drunk side at the moment and hadn't been able to help searching for relief, mean or not.

"Shit!" Mitsuko stomped a high-heeled foot against the floor in abject frustration. "Shit, shit, shit! I'm sorry! I know I should be setting a better example for everyone but…shit! Atsushi has always been…you know…the social one! He knows what to say in these sorts of situations and I…I…well I just don't!"

Yugi laughed nervously and stood up from his chair to rub soothing circles on his sempai's back. The blonde reasserted her lean against the counter-top but did slightly press herself back against Yugi's touch.

In the strangest and probably most uncomplimentary way, Yugi thought that in this moment Mitsuko looked a little bit like Yami. Neither she nor his other seemed to handle a personal loss of control or an admission of weakness very well.

Behind him the members of the Karaoke Club were fluttering from side to side, snatching cover-up from each other's counter-space and generally fretting like any teenager threatened with an upcoming flood of peer attention tended to do. Even if Yugi wanted some help with cooling of the blonde Queen of Clipboard Doom he wouldn't have been able to snag anyone's attention long enough to ask for it. Personally Yugi was only really able to hold onto this crisis because he was so used to chaos anyway.

"You know…" Yugi tried to turn the conversation to a slightly more positive, or at least less stage-based, topic, "I always assumed that you hated Atsushi's social side, at least a little. You were always the first one to whip out the punishment if he started talking even slightly suggestively."

"That's because he is an idiot that talks way too much!" Mitsuko snapped. "He goes on and on, making lame jokes and …mocking EVERYTHING that I'm stressed about…until I end up laughing despite myself."

The way his sempai's voice wavered just then made Yugi almost fatally curious about just how far along Mitsuko and Atsushi's relationship had come along. He'd seen the ways they looked at each other and had definitely heard a suggestive amount about their joined past from Hayashi. Atsushi had made it seem as though Mitsuko had always been a part of his life and that in her own small way Mitsuko had a mastery over his heart that no girlfriend or boyfriend ever had. But that was Atsushi's surprisingly humble way of talking about their relationship…Yugi suddenly needed to know what Mitsuko's view was.

"Mitsuko-sempai," Yugi spoke up hesitantly, "did…did you ever…when you and Hayashi were…what was it…"

"Hayashi? Are you asking if I ever liked Hayashi?" Mitsuko caught on.

"Well …yah," Yugi blushed.

Mitsuko looked at Yugi in a painfully unreadable way and straightened her spine to full height. Yugi's hand awkwardly fell from his sempai's spine but he didn't actually take his hand away. He knew that she didn't want to be touched but he always knew that memories…particularly memories of pain…demanded a physical anchor. If Mitsuko looked like she was slipping Yugi wouldn't hesitate to dive in.

"I think…at first…I may have actually like Hayashi," Mitsuko admitted with some great cost to herself. "It was never…never a physical attraction or a connection of our personalities. I think…I think I was sort of seduced by his family-ties…and by how much success I could attain through them…for myself. The idea of a successful future was just….very, very intoxicating to me then."

"So…w-when did you and Atsushi…I mean, when Atsushi broke your engagement and…well…sort of trampled all your ideals…h-how did he …how did you take that?" Yugi strangely found himself shaking. "What happened…when he broke your spell?"

Mitsuko laughed dreamily and cupped one side of her face in the palm of her hand. Her cheeks were flushed with a shy pink. "He did break my spell I guess…and he did it so unabashedly, so confidently…as if the idea that he was insulting the only person he knew with connections…really didn't matter… but then again…Atsushi has always just as connected…in his own way…he was always so involved in our lives that neither Shogi nor I could fully appreciate until things were teetering on the edge…and he threatened to take his light away."

Again Yugi's heart was pounding and he couldn't really understand why.

"_It's because she was rescued in the same way I rescued Yami. Her feelings are …her feelings are what Yami's feelings."_

"I was such an idiot for so long," Mitsuko laughed to herself. "I mean I was stuck in this terrible state of mind of propriety over humanity that had caused me to fall into Hayashi's lap in the first place….and yet…somehow…with just his words and his being there…somehow Atsushi broke in and saved me."

"But was saving you enough?" Yugi trembled. "After all Atsushi never openly competed with Shogi for your affections. He n-never …he never made you have to choose like that because he really love you…A-And and he …he is still loud-mouthed and…and flirtatious and all those things you don't like ….Was saving you still enough to get you to l-love him?"

The earth seemed to slow and time stretched painfully from one second to the next. It was as if the fabric of the universe was being warped by the very weight of this conversation.

The other club-members whizzed around in the background, outside the small bubble that Mitsuko and Yugi had formed around themselves as if they were fast-forwarded.

A small, hesitant and indefinable smile peeked out of the corner of Mitsuko's mouth.

"I think …that I d-"

The backstage door flew open with a time-jarring bang and a stage-tech popped his head into the room demanding that one of the Karaoke Club's officers get their butt to the audio-booth for final-checks.

"Damn," Mitsuko swore, "I uh…I-I'd better go do that while um…while Atsushi is getting here. Lousy rock-star late to his own first gig."

Mitsuko's beautiful crimson gown slipped entirely from underneath Yugi's grip and the small hikari felt as if someone had tossed a bucket of demonic power over his head. He chocked and reached out for his sempai though he knew it wasn't her that was concerning him, but who she was representing in his mind.

"Sempai!" Yugi chocked in a near panic.

"Motu…" Mitsuko said even as she continued to walk towards the door. "Atsushi is the one who…he has to ask me for this answer. It has to be him or it doesn't mean anything. He has to be here for me to reply to your question."

"Right," Yugi sighed in disappointment.

As the clasp of Mitsuko's heels started to fade down the hallway, Yugi turned his attention back to his stage-fright and his vocal warm-ups.

//You know I don't need you to tell ME first// Yami's mental-voice suddenly reached Yugi's mind, scaring the bejeesus out of him mid lip-roll.

/Y-YAMI!/ Yugi yelped, whirling around to where Yami's presence was pulsing. The ex-pharaoh had been leaning just outside the dressing-room door for at least the last ten minutes.

The two soul-partners just stared at each other in complete silence as their soul-bond sizzled and roared with a dual-flood of unsettled emotions flowing from either side.

Slowly Yami pushed off the wall and turned fully into the room, almost filling up the doorway despite his small stature.

"A-Ah! G-guys!" Yugi swung around to the club-members still in the room. "I um…c-can you guys g-go and…check outside for Atsushi or-or something? Just…just for a minute."

Not without a little grumbling the singers all assented to Yugi's request and shuffled out of the dressing-room until only Yugi and Yami were left.

Yugi nervously rocked on his heels, debating on whether or not he was brave enough to actually make eye-contact with his other-half.

"I-I um…made excuses with your mother and Grandpa so …so we can have a moment," Yami stammered, sounding atypically unsure of himself.

"O-Oh?" Yugi could only stare at the floor, his mouth suddenly painfully dry.

"Yes…and….and then I um…was going to use the time to …err…talk with you…a-and wish you luck w-when you…and um your lady frie-"

"Mitsuko-sempai," Yugi corrected.

"Uh yes, I heard you two talking so I was waiting for …for an opening in the conversation and um…I was…p-planning what I was going to say…um myself," Yami coughed.

Yugi bravely allowed his eyes to drift over Yami's body. His other was surprisingly cute with his scarf being worried between his fingers and his hair in a wind-swept mess.

"Yami…you don't have to be the charming confident guy all the time," Yugi found himself all but giggling. "Believe it or not I like you as just you."

"Thank god," Yami nearly stumbled as he stomped down the stairs at the door until he was only a body-width away from Yugi. "Then I'm just going to be blunt and say it Yugi, I love-"

Yami didn't get to finish declaring his affections before suddenly he and Yugi were kissing. Honestly Yugi hadn't remembered walking the three feet between them but he found he didn't care. Yugi didn't care when he suddenly found himself pinned to the wall, nor when his hands were suddenly up the back of Yami's shirt either. After all this was all he had wished for, to be with Yami and…

…Wish…The Wish…The Unspoken Wish…

"N-Nero!" Yugi yanked away from Yami's lips to yell.

"Oookay that wasn't what I was hoping to hear," Yami hmphed.

"No, no, it's not…Yami I-I just realized …holy shi-YAMI! T-the angels are leaving TONIGHT!" Yugi remembered in shock. "Oh …oh…oh man, I-I haven't even said thank you or even thought of a good-bye present or-"

"Aibou," Yami chuckled as he brought Yugi back from its panicked tail-spin. "I'm fairly certain it would be more of an insult than a sign of gratitude to give Nero some trinket. He's an angel, this is his job."

"Well still…I feel a little guilty for not being…being upset about his leaving," Yugi blushed. He nervously grinned up at Yami, who was impossibly still pressing him up against a wall. "But that's…good …right? If I'm ready to let go it means he did his job right…right?"

Yami just leaned forward to kiss Yugi's forehead then took a big step backwards to let Yugi slide back to his own feet.

"If you feel it is this important then I'll go and bring Nero here so that you can tell him good-bye."

"H-huh? Go? But I thought we could-"

"I did promise your mother I wouldn't ravish you too badly before your curtain-call," Yami grinned charmingly.

"OH MY G- Y-YAMI! You…you TALKED about THIS with my MOTHER?" Yugi squeaked in horror.

"To be honest it was really her that brought up the subject and uh…got me out of my own mental rut so that I had the wherewithal to come up here in the first place," Yami coughed awkwardly.

"…. ….Well….God bless mothers," Yugi smiled.

Silence fell and a kindle of attraction hummed between the two soul-partners making it near impossible for them to fully part. Yugi took it as a sign to bring the words back into the cloud of hormones that had interrupted them.

"So…you love me?" Yugi rasped breathlessly.

"I do…and you…love me back?" Yami asked anxiously.

"Sweet silver clouds yes," Yugi laughed with ecstatic joy.

"…I sort of wish I'd recognized this BEFORE the Game Shop filled up with parental figures," Yami shamefully admitted.

"Why's that?" Yugi teased. Luckily Yami was too busy staring at his own feet to notice Yugi's grin.

"Well because …you know…because," Yami stammered as his ears turned crimson, "because now you and I …we…we can't…."

"Yeees?" Yugi goaded a little harder.

"Y-Yugi!" Yami finally broke.

"I know what you meant," Yugi relented. "But you know I sort of…like this way better. I mean this way we'll…we'll have to be…real about it. We'll be together in every other way before we …are together in THAT way…and…"

"And?" Yami asked.

"And I'll be able to tease the hell out of you for a long time without worrying about you taking some sort of delicious, painful revenge with your…greater experience," Yugi winked through his blush.

"Oh I wouldn't be too sure about that, aibou," Yami smirked, "remember I can be very calculating and I know how to plan ahead."

A warm moment passed while the kindle of energy settled itself enough that escape seemed possible.

"I better…let you get prepared then," Yami smiled.

"Yah," Yugi sighed. Yami managed to make it to the door before Yugi had to tack on, "I love you."

Yami paused mid-step and seemed to sort of …tremble, as if the words fell over him with a physical warmth and weight.

"I love you too aibou."

And the door closed leaving Yugi alone once again with the looming actuality of his performance. Yet strangely…Yugi didn't feel all that nervous anymore.

**SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENE**

(**A/N**: YAAAY! They made out! Damn those boys resisted longer than seems healthy but they're together now! Woo-hooo!! Now ya'll will just have to wait until the sequel to see what else they do! It's a wicked trick to pull but…it works doesn't it?)

Despite what the principal tells you, or what the board of trustees or the PTA will swear to, Domino High School is a hot-bed of turmoil.

Yami had taken down the ring-leaders of juvenile crime, and Hayashi had even been dethroned but that did not mean it was safe to walk the halls of the high-school unprepared….particularly when you were a veritable walking agitation like Atsushi.

Atsushi was, quite proudly, everything any sort of small-minded goon could hope to hate. He was a tauntingly good-looking, bi-sexual, popular, smart and relatively successful young man who had taken on the darkest of threats with a smile and an impenetrable wall of superiority. He was everything every girl in school wanted already and if tonight's concert when well then he'd be thrown ahead of even Yami Motu in the popularity polls of the school and become the all but untouchable alpha male of Domino High.

Given that, it would have been almost impossible to think that Atsushi wouldn't get attacked on his way to the auditorium. Angels and demons were amuck, true, but they weren't dealing with the small fry bullies. Expunging the entire school of bullies would have been too much for the angels to do within their given time-frame.

To their credit at least the Domino High small-fries hadn't been as sinister as Shogi had. They didn't stalk down their prey with trailing auras or insane taunts. They weren't even like the old-school bullies like Ushio who worked a sort of professional yakuza threat in his assault.

The small-fries of Domino High were very basic in their attack. They found their prey heading towards the stage, cut him off, beat the ever-loving crap out of them, and then they ran away to attack another day, leaving Atsushi to bleed alone in the cold snow.

It was simple, it was predictable…and it was very possibly fatal.

**CHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTEREND**

**Masaka:** Well…darn it I guess this wasn't the end after all

**Yami Masaka:** We still have to deal with Nizuki leaving the group and that is going to be a big pain in the narrative arse

**Nero:** Also Nero is supposed to say good-bye soon!!

**Both Authors:** Yah but Yugi and you already reached your emotional climax like three chapters ago

**Nero: *sulking in the corner*** You just play favorites with nee-chan

**Jason:** By the way, hope everyone had a happy summer, sorry we didn't update sooner and please review!!


	47. Christmas Festival Part Two: The End

**Masaka:** Please, please, PLEASE let this be the very last chapter!!!!

**Yami Masaka:** I don't wanna be involved with this Yu-Gi-Oh epic anymore! I don't wanna do the sequel for a long time! I just want out!!

The group had reformed and was on its way to the auditorium when the first screams broke the air.

"HELP! HELP! SOMEONE! SOMEONE HEEEEELP!!!" a vaguely female voice screeched at a pitch that was nearly inhumane.

Naturally the heroic group was drawn in by the cry. They wouldn't have been themselves if they ignored it.

What they saw when they rounded the final corner, however, was what split the group between those who knew violence…and those who had been lucky enough to edge around it through every tournament.

Yueh Narutaki was kneeling over a red spot in the snow. At least that's what it looked like at first. That's what the mind wanted it to be. When Joey, Bakura, the angels and Honda stepped closer, however, it became painfully apparent that that was not what it was.

Atsushi was a good fighter, the tatters of his opponent's jacket still clutched in one fist affirmed that, but he had stitches which slowed him down. The thugs had only needed that one advantage to take the strong pillar of the Karaoke Club down.

Laying on his back in the snow the Karaoke Club president made a darkly gothic and yet strangely alluring picture. His side was what had stained the snow the most. The stitches he'd gained from Hayashi had torn open in the struggle and the wound was suddenly as fresh as it had been the first time. Despite Yueh and Atsushi's own hands pressing on the wound together there was still a steady stream of crimson pouring out of the wound.

What was possibly worse than the side-wound though was the steady flow of blood coming from a sizeable gash on the rock-star's forehead. That wound, while shallow, had taken on a nightmarish quality because it was that wound that had resulted in the teen's usually died red hair to turn a solemn black with fluids. The wound at his side was at least hidden from direct view by the now ruined green dress-shirt Atsushi had worn for his performance.

Between his head and his rib it was almost impossible to even notice the bruises and the scraps that covered the rest of his body, though they were also impressive injuries in themselves.

"Sweet Jesus!" Honda swore, his knees buckling at the sight, "What happened?"

"I-I just found him like this…I-I went out to look for him b-because he was late and …I found him like this! I-I just found him like this!" Yueh said in a shrill hysterical voice.

"Shh, it's okay," Bakura surprisingly stepped up to soothe. Or perhaps it was natural that he did step up because he was the only one present who was brave enough to tell the optimistic lies the girl needed and the only one with any true experience with this quantity of blood. "Shh, shh, shh. It's all going to be okay, alright? I just need you to move aside. Just go back into the auditorium and…and stall for time alright?"

Yueh was more than happy to agree. Agreeing meant that she could leave the red spot in the snow and go inside to scream if she needed to.

Atsushi watched his kohai run into the auditorium with a slightly anxious glazed stare. Once she was out of sight, however, he simply smiled and mumbled, "Well that seemed…to work."

"Shut up you idiot," Bakura snorted as he turned his attention to the oozing stitch-wound.

"No…I'm serious…beautiful lies," Atsushi coughed lightly, that blood-stained smile refusing to ebb.

"Damn it…w-what do we do? I…I don't think I can get a doctor here fast enough, even if I run," Joey swore as he anxiously shifted from foot to foot.

"I don't think it would matter if you had the speed of Mercury," Bakura snorted as he moved Atsushi's hands back over the wound.

"Aren't you suppose… to lie… to me …now?" Atsushi shivered.

"Would it help?" Bakura snorted.

"SHIT! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Honda caught onto Joey's anxiety and started to teeter back and forth as well.

The cluster of heroes seemed incapable of understanding how they could be this useless. They stammered and swore and shuddered because they had just couldn't believe that they had somehow failed to save the day. Years of almost Saturday Morning Success had made them all naïve.

"Well…this was definitely ill-timed," Nizuki suddenly spoke up into the painful silence, startling everyone from their morose thoughts.

"Yes, it does seem unhappily ironic," Nero sighed and folded his arms calmly behind his head.

The cluster turned in confusion to the two angels, none of them capable of understanding what was keeping the angels so calm.

Before either heavenly being could explain, however, the door the auditorium was thrown open and Yami came storming out.

"I just heard that Atsushi was-" Yami shouted. His voice tampered away instantly when his foot hit the bloodied snow.

"…Nice to…see you…too," Atsushi barely breathed. It was taking him all his concentration to come back with these one-liners and yet no one wanted to be the one to hush him either. Between his poor attempt at humor and the chanciness of quiet, they would all take his humor hands down.

"…Now Nizuki-nee…we did promise," Nero sighed.

"Yah…silver clouds across the moon on All-Hallow's Eve," Nizuki huffed, running her fingers through her hair.

Ryou, who had been silent up until now, reached out to tug Nizuki's sleeve and ask, "Tenshi-kun…w-what's going on?"

The smile Nizuki gave Ryou was one that would haunt him for weeks afterwards. It would be what he would remember when he woke up crying with loneliness and strangely also be the one to make him smile when even Bakura had given Ryou up for the darkness. The strawberry-blonde's face was serene and resigned…and maybe just a little bit heart-broken.

"I've got to go now, little love. I thought maybe…I could cheat time but now I know that I really just have to go," Nizuki said sadly.

"W-what do you mean? What are you saying? What does this have to do with Atsushi, what did you promise Nero?" Ryou's breathing started to shudder just like Atsushi's.

"I promised Nero that if I had to…I would use the last of my magic…and once that was gone I would return to Heaven without a fuss," Nizuki explained.

"W-WHAT!" Ryou wailed.

"Wait, what's going on?" Honda blinked.

Nero helpfully steered the crowd away from Atsushi, the angels, and the Bakuras. The little cherub still had the terrible feeling that the timing was not right for good-byes but it didn't seem like there was much else he could do. So, at the very least, the no-longer-so-little angel wanted to give his friend and her protectorate a moment to share a private good-bye.

"I'm done here, Ry-chan. Please understand that," Nizuki sighed warily.

"NO! NO! Y-YOU'RE… NO! YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT!" Ryou wailed.

"Ry…" Nizuki began to speak.

"NO! YOU WANT TO STAY HERE TOO! WHY! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO??" Ryou screamed, grabbing handfuls of his angel's robes in his fists and throwing his face into the soft silk of her collar.

"Because that's what's in the cards for us this time. His divine plan doesn't have to make sense to us, it just has to be," Nizuki said and Ryou was so close he could feel her shrug.

"B-But I-I don't want you to go," Ryou whimpered, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Ryou," Bakura strained against the impulse to leave Atsushi's side.

"You know I don't want to either," Nizuki pulled back just far enough to cup Ryou's face in her hands. "But that's not the issue here….I have to go because Atsushi needs the last of me. After him, I'll be all used up. Nothing outside of Heaven is infinite, Ry-chan my little love."

"…I-I guess I know that," Ryou huffed. "But I hate it! I-It's not fair! I-I hate it so much that-"

Nizuki smiled and kissed Ryou's forehead. The touch was painfully soft and sweet. It was a good-bye kiss if there ever was one.

"Don't go down that path, Ry," she shook her head her eyes burning slightly brighter with that angelic wrath Ryou had come to expect. "The same love that sent me to you…that fills me up…. Ry, you understand that such a love belongs to everyone. You wouldn't love me if I weren't like this."

"M-maybe not but…but," Ryou chocked. "I-I like that you…that you are so concerned about everyone…a-and that you care so much …but…b-but-"

Bakura reached out mentally to his other-half /You have to let her go./

//B-Bakura// Ryou gapped at his dark. The hikari almost started to get angry but a roll of thought and emotion flooded from Bakura and stopped his protests cold.

He could see into his other's mind and see all the many painful good-byes Bakura had had to make over his centuries of life. He saw the former hosts, their families, the children Bakura's soul had been forced to share all flash before his eyes. And Ryou saw the life-consuming darkness that came from not being able to let go…at not being able to recognize that the body and the soul were two different things, and that the soul was always going to be around…even if it was out of sight.

(A/N: Wow, Bakura has gotten to the point where he can actually give a good philosophical lesson…boy has been cured)

It was strange but for that one moment Ryou felt as though he and Bakura had switched places and that Ryou was dark…while his other was the strong and understanding light.

/You know that…in my own way…I like the bird-woman as much as you do but…we both have to face the facts that she is not ours to have./

Ryou looked between his love and his angel in misery, trying to reconcile with what had to happen and what he was feeling. His eyes then lowered to Atsushi…and he saw how very much the young musician needed his own angel right then.

Even so for a terrifying moment Ryou was afraid that seeing the need wouldn't be enough. He could so easily imagine tearing Nizuki away, at using whatever gift it was that the Millennium Items had given him to FORCE Nizuki to stay by his side.

One hand actually rose to grab Nizuki's robe but then a familiar girl's voice seemed to whisper in his ear: _'Do not forget what you have suffered. Don't let some other family suffer when they need a miracle most… onii-chan.'_

It was like a splash of cold water right to the face that woke Ryou's inner-light in a hurry. With a thankful rush the pain and anger of separation faded away, not gone but not overwhelming.

Ryou clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in fury then sobbed slightly and nodded. "I understand …you are an angel and have to be there for…for others like me…like Atsushi…like Amane. I can't imagine what my life would have been like without you…and I guess that's why I understand you have to go. Even though I hate it so much that it feels like my whole body is numb."

Nizuki stroked Ryou's cheek lovingly one last time, her own hands warm for the first time in so long, and then she stepped away. And as Nizuki leaned away from her protectorate the illusions she cast about herself to hide her true form faded away and Nizuki's barely glowing wings flared impressively.

A single residual spell kept the surrounding crowds from seeing what was happening but even with the magic clouding mortal eyesight the air seemed sweeter and brighter just by her angelic presence.

Bakura stumbled up off the ground, out of her way, and Nizuki laughed: "You're only impressed now?"

"I was always impressed…today I think I'm just scared at how you don't seem as human as I always convinced myself that you were," Bakura chocked.

Nizuki snickered again and reached for him. Bakura stumbled but allowed the hand to touch him and to cup his cheek with the same tenderness she had always shown Ryou.

"Be good …and look after Ryou," she ordered simply.

"I will," Bakura nodded solemnly.

Nizuki nodded formally and kneeled down over Atsushi. The, for once, dye-free teenager stared up at Nizuki in both hope and definite panic.

"Y-You…y-you're going to help me?" Atsushi stammered, blood flicking at his lips.

"Yes," Nizuki nodded, though her eyes betrayed the slightest glimmer of reluctance.

"…W-will it hurt?" Atsushi whimpered.

"No," Nizuki smiled.

She bowed her head over the wound, placing one hand over the puddle of his shirt and the other one on his head. She took a deep breath and spread her wings and then…it was healed.

There was no radical glow of light, no strum of harp-strings, or even a recitation of angelic words. And the truth of what happened seemed to shine through more without effects. Nizuki didn't need theatrics to perform a miracle; she just needed to be an angel with a mission and a divine allowance.

"There, see, all better," Nizuki smiled removing her hands and sitting back on her calves.

"Wow…that was…I mean it was incredible and faith-affirming but…kinda…well…anticlimactic I guess," the pop-star sat up, running a hand through his now fully restored head and blood-slicked but whole torso.

"Miracles are simple, you just want the television effects," Nizuki snickered.

"Well…should I err…stay and …err…say something or…" Atsushi blushed nervously.

"You have a concert to get to and a blonde partner to calm down," Nizuki shook her head.

"Oh crap! Mitsuko must have heard already that I'm…that I…wow this is going to be hard to explain," Atsushi jolted to his feet and ran off. He paused a minute to look back at Nizuki…and to put a hand over the cross necklace that had been previously unnoticed around his neck.

"Thank the Lord for the blessing I receive today," Atsushi muttered almost off-handedly. But then Atsushi remembered his partner and darted fully off into the dark of the hallway.

As he dashed past Nero swept his hand down the boy's back, leaving enough of a spell on him that he wouldn't remember the exact details of his miracle. His faith would never allow him to think it was all chance, but Nizuki's face and that she had been living with Ryou for the last half a year would dissolve completely.

"He'll be fine now," Nizuki waved at the pop-star's back anyway. Ryou and Bakura both noticed that she hadn't stood up again. Both somehow doubted she even could.

Nero sighed sadly at the view then forcibly shoved his little flock into the backstage of the auditorium. More than good-bye he felt that this parting of ways should be private.

"You will…look in on us…at least," Ryou shivered as he waited for whatever exit Nizuki was going to make. His hands were gripped together tight enough to draw blood from under his fingernails.

"I will," Nizuki nodded, her own hands seemed equally gripped on her own robes and she didn't look up. She was trying to constrain herself as well and not let the desire to be saved, to remain, bleed out of her eyes when there was nothing anyone could or should do.

"Bird-lady…we'll miss ya," Bakura grinned.

Nizuki stayed curled for a moment …then she smiled and looked up at the sky. Just like the miracle of healing, Nizuki's ascendency looked too simple for what it was. Instead of some sort of celestial spot light or a dramatic fade-away Nizuki just seemed to sigh…and vanish. The only hint she'd even been there was a single white feather on the now pristine snow.

"Nizuki-nee," Ryou finally allowed himself to collapse. He fell heavily on his knees and scooped that feather off the ground to hold against his heart.

Behind them, Nero straightened himself away from the stage-door and brushed the stray ice off of his jacket. Strangely the little cherub didn't seem upset at all.

"W-why," Ryou gasped. Though he was several feet away, Nero heard it clearly and turned back to the duo.

"Because I don't believe in partings…not forever. And I trust in purpose for all things," the angel said formally.

"There was a PURPOSE for her leaving me?" Ryou snarled, no longer feeling he had to restrain his feelings of pain or betrayal.

"Yes…there was," Nero stood his ground. "And there is just as much reason for me leaving Yugi tonight."

"Whoa, what? You're both leaving?" Bakura gapped, "But things aren't ... I mean they are in a way but…those demons and…Atsushi's attack."

"Life if filled with challenges. We just swept up the big ones," Nero chuckled. "Now if you snow-bunnies excuse Nero, I have a Yugi-sama to listen to then good-bye with!"

Nero casually threw open the auditorium door and just before going in gave Ryou one last look, "Yugi-sama and I…never did have the connection you and Nizuki-nee did…I think you should be proud of how much she loved you."

And then the cherub disappeared inside.

Ryou continued to sob in the snow, holding onto the feather so tightly that his fingers seemed to burn red from the tension.

Bakura watched helplessly for a long moment then did something he nearly never did. He bowed his head and prayed aloud.

"Dear God of light, True Master in whatever form that is, please accept Nizuki back into Your fold with grace, fill her drained spirit up with Your awesome power…and let us meet again. She was the shining example of Your love and generosity and I know…my life and that of my partner's will feel hollow without such love …Though I have no right to ask this of You, and in all justice You should just smite me where I stand…please I pray…Amen."

Ryou looked up in Bakura in surprise but the white-haired former Egyptian devil-thief just grimaced and shrugged. He wasn't comfortable with being the spiritually uplifted partner in the relationship. He had more practice and more patience with the dark. Ryou stared at his other for a long time then smiled weakly and stood up, the feather falling from his fingers as he reached up to hold Bakura tightly to his heart.

"We'll get through this Ry," Bakura said gruffly into Ryou's hair. "We may make a lot of…very mortal mistakes, and will almost definitely lose our way but…so long as we hold onto each other I think we'll be okay."

"I don't think…I know," Ryou said calmly. "Nizuki came to earth to fulfill my wish for happiness. She did that and that's the only reason why she was allowed to leave. I believe that."

Bakura chuckled at the sudden resurgence of Ryou's light and felt his own soul settle.

"Let's go, I think the pharaoh's brat will understand if we skip the concert."

Ryou nodded and slowly the two Ring-holders walked off towards their home.

Behind them the feather sat in the snow, lonely and shimmering, until a slight breeze picked it up out of the slush and sent it twirling down the way into the hands of a heavily-bundled man standing in the shadows.

Darrin curled his fingers over the downy feather with surprising ease. His eyes, wet with tears, looked after the two Bakuras, then to the Purgatory Office Case-File in his hand…that had Nakagato's stamp emblazoned upon the front.

"Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,/Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown," the demon quoted enigmatically as he turned the feather over and over in his hand. "For so/I formd them free, and free they must remain,/Till they enthrall themselves…"

Darrin then chuckled and threw the feather into the air, "At which point I must use all my love and wisdom to save the little cretins from themselves, even if they won't recognize my work, or have any idea why it works the way it shall…isn't that right, old man. Sheesh all those years running from You and now I'm always so in awe it's almost sickening." **

Up above the skies twinkled, as if sharing the mirth Darrin showed like a silent partner in an already understood conversation.

The former-demon continued to chuckle for a moment then shivered, shoved his Heavenly notice into his pocket, and pulled his jacket closer shut around himself.

"Brr, well if it's all the same to the Heavenly Body I think I'll head back into my fireplace now…" the Darrin turned to leave. "And if you're already up there…see ya later Nizuki."

Yugi looked over Atsushi as he changed into a spare shirt with shock glazing his features. He didn't doubt that Atsushi had been healed by Nizuki, --though the rock star seemed strangely forgetful of the fact himself--nor was he surprised that Nizuki had agreed to return to Heaven after the healing….However the sudden nature of these announcements did leave his brain in a bit of a tizzy.

"It's going to be weird readjusting I guess," Yugi sighed to himself, "after the angels are gone. I mean they were more than angels to us they were friends."

Personally Yugi wasn't terrified of the idea of Nero leaving. It made him a bit sad, as if a dear friend were moving away but…well his relationship with Nero was different. He had been a part of granting Nero's wish as much as Nero had granted his own.

They had both learned from each other, grown through knowing one another and now…there was nothing else to share, at least not for a while. Not in this world.

"Did you say something kohai?" Atsushi asked as he pulled on a stunning red dress-shirt and tauntingly buttoned up only the bottom-half. Somehow 'classical performance dress' just didn't seem to fit Atsushi. 'MTV formality' or 'refined sexy with class' were more the singer's cup of tea.

"I-it's nothing," Yugi blushed. Atsushi nodded and let it slide…though he did seem to have something else to say.

"Yugi…that is…. I heard something about…well…I guess that kid that always followed you around was or is an angel too?" Atsushi coughed.

"Um yes," Yugi grimaced. It was just like Nero's magic to have erased memories of Nizuki and not himself. Adult or not Nero was STILL a scatter-brain.

"Well um…when you say good-bye…will you give him my regards and …well thanks…I think…I think he might have something to do with that…light…outside," Atsushi said vaguely, his hand rubbing his forehead in aggravation.

"Oh! Oh yes of course…the light," Yugi rapidly shook his head. " I will definitely be sure to tell him."

"Thanks," Atsushi sighed heavily. The punk-god-in-the-making then looked over at the stage-door and gave a dreamy smile that made all the troubles the Karaoke Club had gone through suddenly not matter anymore.

"We're gonna knock-em-dead tonight, Yugi…you just see if we don't," Atsushi sighed.

"With your passion…even the angels themselves will cheer," Yugi agreed, aware that the club-president was probably the only person he had ever known who had followed a dream and a talent with truly spiritual clarity.

It was almost enviable if it weren't for the fact that singing was simple Atsushi's God-given talent. This was just him reaching for his potential and reaching it.

The light above the dressing-room door went off and Yugi jolted.

"Time to get up to bat, kohai," Atsushi winked.

"R-right," Yugi blushed.

(A/N: Okay people get your i-pods ready. The track-list for what happens in the karaoke club is as follows, we're not writing anymore song scenes so you'll have to create this concert in your imagination:

Mitsuko's song is "All I Want For Christmas" by Mariah Carey,

Yaegaki and Watashito doing WHAMO's rendition of "Last Christmas",

Asahara Yogi does "Donde Este Santa Claus" by Guster,

Narutaki Yueh does "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" by whichever female artist you prefer.

Trickster baby you're doing my love-love-weep song "Christmas Shoes".

Megumi does I dunno…"Jingle Bell Rock" by whoever…I don't like her so I don't care.

Yugi does "O, Holy Night" by Mariah Carey …yes those pitches are outside his range but the passion is what counts

The flock of Atsushi fans does "Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley while staring desperately at Atsushi off-stage…who is ignoring them because he managed to trick Mitsuko underneath a stalk of mistletoe and surprisingly she didn't fight back

And finally our dear rock-star Atsushi does "Better Days" by Goo Goo Dolls, which if it doesn't seem like a Christmas song to you, needs to be listened to again and again for at least a dozen times!!)

It was an exhilarating rush to come off the stage when people were still wildly calling for more. Every single member of the club felt it. It was like an electrical jolt that ran through them all, binding them together like the colored bulbs on a string of Christmas lights.

Yugi himself couldn't stop blushing. His friends had, expectantly, cheered their lips off when he'd finished his song. Yami in particularly had nearly caused Yugi to pass out with some of the 'compliments' he'd sent through the mind-link.

What was more embarrassing was that during Atsushi's song his friends had somehow managed to cheer even larger and Serenity had mortally embarrassed herself when she'd yelled out a particularly luscious response to Atsushi's performance just as all the other cheering had faded.

Now in the final bow everyone was cheering wildly and Yugi simply could not have felt any happier.

After what seemed like an eternity of clapping hands and stomping feet the crowd settled down and the club president set aside his oddly mixed trophy of panties, love-letters and roses to approach the microphone to give the end of concert address which he and Mitsuko had planned.

It was traditional for all music organization that the club's president would beg the indulgence of the audience if they didn't like the presentation, tell of the club's future hours and generally give the good old Japanese send-off.

Not a single member of the club had any delusions that Atsushi would stick to the official script.

"Thank you, thank you…thank you all so very much," the high-school rock-star said over the returning roar of applause, somehow managing to get the hoard to tone down their voices again. "Thank you all for coming to the very first, but by God's grace I hope far from the last, Christmas Karaoke Concert!!"

Another roar of applause rattled the rafters which Atsushi, again, seemed to calm down with only the slightest effort. "As you all know this is the part of the show where I'm supposed to thank the school for the funding and tell you about our club…"

Ham that he was Atsushi actually winked at the poor councilors sitting nearest the stage. "Well…no offense to them but I say screw that!"

The School President turned a very unhealthy beet red but surprisingly Councilor Harrison grabbed the balding man's arm before he could take even one step towards the stage. Yugi wasn't so great at lip-reading but he could swear Harrison was saying something like 'the boy deserves his moment, don't you think?'

"Yah, yah I know, I know that I should be THANKFUL that I was given PERMISSION to get up on this stage with all these wonderful people and show off to all my peers and their parents and what not," Atsushi shrugged casually. "But you see…there is something that our dear colleges don't like to acknowledge and that almost ended up getting me killed tonight. It is not within the power of any school to make a club a success, nor can they grant us the acceptance of the student body. For that privilege my group did a lot of suffering and bleeding."

The audience seemed to murmur anxiously at this statement but no one dared to speak up as no one wanted to miss where Atsushi was going with his address; "But of course I don't think I would be as proud as I am if things had come easy—though I certainly wouldn't have minded a few less trips to the nurse's station. No you see as my song declared it is my hope that we all find better days…but I know that to find anything an effort has to be made to seek that happiness out on your own. No one can simply hand it over to you; no enchantment is strong enough to bind happiness to you."

Yugi gapped at his club-president for that last sentence and he could sense that his other-half was just as flummoxed. What didn't surprise him, however, was how Nero was giggling himself sick in the seat next to Yami. The little angel looked so filled with radiant light and joy that he threatened to literally burst out of his human skin.

:/: This speech was Nero's last ace. When enchanting Atsushi earlier I sort of…added my last bit a' magic to help him really glow:/: Nero finally managed to explain over his glee.

/What on earth are you talking about you little trickster?/ Yugi couldn't help but send a little joy right back.

:/: I talking about polishing Atsushi's own heavenly light to a pearly glow. Nizuki teach me that to do most good…sometimes things must be a little unorthodox. Nakagato-sensai will probably not be pleased but I make sure that Nizuki find no reason to break her promise and come flying back in last second to beat all up for some little social upheaval that Mister Atsushi and his friends can handle:/:

Yugi shook his head in awe for that. Of course an angel would be forward thinking enough to worry over the reactions Atsushi would get, and the punks who still lurked the schools. He had figured that such a problem was beneath the scope of what his angels had really meant to accomplish.

He should have known better than that.

"Happiness is something we make for ourselves out of whatever we can. Lord knows that when Mitsuko and I started up this club we received no support. The Student Body President Hayashi Shogi wanted us shut down, the teachers refused to send in supervisors even after the majority of our members were bleeding and we practically had to pimp ourselves out for the slightest bit of peer attention as I think most of the girls in this audience still remember from when Hayashi tossed me out in my birthday suit trying to intimidate me into staying quiet and I used that to my advantage-"

The on-stage Atsushi fans and the off-stage ones all screamed so loudly that the windows of the auditorium actually trembled.

"-But that is all an aside. What I want to say is that each of it has it in our power to make the world a better place. Each of us is responsible for the way our lives go! After tonight I don't think things will automatically get better for me or my club. I mean it was as I said, I was nearly killed on my way here tonight."

The fans and several parents started murmuring nervously at that once again. Yugi didn't miss that a lot of these parents had that icy stone gaze of a disciplinary figure who had just realized they still had work to do.

"Hey, hey ya'll, I'm fine…a little shaken maybe but I had someone looking out for me," Atsushi winked in Nero's direction. "The point is that I know this school is still filled with some pretty shadowy hearts. Monsters aren't just something that appear on fancy holographic projections –no offense meant towards your brother there Mokuba-san—they are also things we carry in our own hearts. And I for one think it is high time that we all started taking more care to cage the suckers!! We were each created perfect and strong and good and we should start proving it! If thugs, skugs and druggies still want to take me down then let 'em! I've never let their intimidations get me down, nor will I! Love is my creed, and music is my method! Anyone who is with me, I want you all to join in on this last song, a group song, which I hope you all know!!!"

And then with the same gusto as his original song –which was quite a lot boarding on physically too much—Atsushi broke out into carol. Mitsuko grinned and marched out of line to join her wonderful, stupid rock-star at the microphone.

"Joy to the World, the Lord is come! Let Earth receive her King! Let eeeevery heart prepaaaare Him room! And heaven and nature sing! And heaven and nature sing! And heaven and heeeeaven and nature sing!"

The rest of the club-members, including Yugi, shared a startled look then altogether shrugged and threw what little remained of their vocal ability into the song as well: "Joy to the World, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ; While fields and flooooods, rocks, hills and plaaaaains, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeaaaat, repeat, the sounding joy."

Without any hesitation at all Joey and Honda jumped up in the audience, followed quickly by Yugi-tachi and the scattering of friends and family that they knew: " No more let sins and sorrows groooow, Nor thorns infest the groooound; He comes to make His blessings flow, Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far aaaaaaaaas, far as, the curse is found."

Then, probably with a little help from the giggling angel in the front row, Councilor Harrison followed by the rest of the teaching-staff stood up to join the final chorus: "He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove, The glories ooooof His righteeeeeousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His looooooove."

Mitsuko's voice sustained the last note in an eerily beautiful echo over the amphitheater before finally fading off into silence. The silence only last a moment however before another roar of applause, much more powerful than the one before, broke throughout the theater.

And amidst all the rejoicing, loving and merry-making…Yugi watched as one little angel blew him a kiss from his chair…then faded away back to the place where he belonged.

/Thank you for everything Nero/ Yugi thought finally.

:/: Be happy Yugi-sama…happy and joyful :/: Nero's voice filled his mind for the last time before gently fading away.

And as Yugi looked over his friends and family and classmates and teachers…he realized that maybe the angels had left more of themselves than they had taken away. Even if there would be no more half-naked half-leather-clad cherub hugs.

//I heard that last thought Yugi! When did that happen?//

Once again, in the view of two particularly changed young lights, time seemed to go quickly. Christmas came and went in a heartbeat. Yugi-tachi gathered at the game-shop for games and food and presents as well as horrible and somewhat random acts of mistletoe abuse that led to Otogi getting slapped, Yami being tossed into the snow, and causing an already reluctant billionaire to swear of social engagements forever.

Also that Christmas Ryou took his yami to the church in the park and they both said a few more prayers for those they had lost…and those they missed.

After Christmas the days rushed by again and then New Years arrived. Mrs. Motu stunned everyone by showing off her array of kimonos that had been designed by her employer back in the States. Ryou got to talk to his errant father who had missed his flight back –and who had begged Ryou to forgive him, asking that they might have a delayed Christmas celebration until he arrived with what he promised were the greatest gifts—while Joey managed to beg off his own mother to get Serenity to stay until the next semester started.***

The first three days of New Years likewise seemed to whizz past, with Kaida making plans to have Yugi come visit America with her during the summer, while at the same time spending too much time on the phone talking about whether or not she should even bother flying back to the States before her company's study moved yet again (A/N: Not very keeping with the spirit of _shogatsu_ is she?).

Then January the fifth came: an ordinary day that brought an extraordinary surprise. Ryou's father arrived at the house with not only the usual gifts…but a new fiancé with him.

"We met in NY while I working alongside the staff at the Museum of Natural History helping them update their cataloging system," Bakura Senior explained to his gobsmacked son and his son's equally gobsmacked darker-half.

"Yes, you see I was taking my daughter to the museum that day, to make up for the fact that I had been too busy to spend time with her lately and well…we ran into Lyon here tripping down the stairs and well I don't know but things sort of…clicked," the woman at Bakura Senior's side blushed prettily.

Jeanne DeAnne, the designer and owner of the DeAnne Everyday Fashions, was perhaps the epitome of the American Southern Belle, except without an accent to mar her standard Japanese pronunciation. She was pale with the slightest suggestion of sun-kissed freckles across her very Gallic cheekbones. Her eyes were of periwinkle blue with only the barest hint of wrinkles at the corners. Her hair was almost startlingly strawberry-blonde, currently leaning more towards red than gold in the light of the kitchen. And even the woman's delicately faded jeans and floral-printed button-up blouse seemed to shout out country-girl.

At once, despite its cruelty, Ryou couldn't help but think that she was too pretty for his father.

"I…I don't…know what to say. When you mentioned gifts…" the overwhelmed hikari said as he shook his head warily.

"I probably should have said something sooner I know but I really think you'll like Jeanne and her daughter once you get to know them. Why when I first talked to Nizuki about the idea of moving her here she seemed-"

And as fast as time had been going…at that moment it seemed to stop.

"W-What did you say your daughter's name was?" Ryou gasped for air.

"Oh it is a bit odd sounding isn't it? Nizuki DeAnne?" Jeanne was blushing self-consciously. "I had originally thought of going with something more traditional like 'Rose' or 'Ruby' but one look at her face and some strange voice in my mind just HAD to have her called Nizuki."

Very rudely Ryou based past his possible step-mother and his father, through the living-room and out the front door.

His feet barely stopped in time to keep him from plowing into a terribly, wonderfully familiar face on the porch.

Teary brown eyes locked onto even more brilliantly hued brown eyes and a smile that Ryou felt was gone forever began to creep across his lips.

"Hello Ry-chan."

THE END FOR NOW!!!

**Masaka:** What Darrin was quoting –or misquoting and reinterpreting , the big softie- were the lines from Book Three of Milton's Paradise Lost. * lines 117-119 **lines 123-125.

**Yami Masaka:** In the epic poem this is a sort of negative conversation of God's where he comes off a little cold and preachy, talking about how he already knows Adam and Eve will succumb to Satan's temptation and that simply knowing that doesn't change anything because He can't/won't interfere and break his oath of Free-will. Darrin reworks this phrasing a little to say something along the lines of "I knew that Nizuki was going to break apart and I knew that Atsushi was going to get hurt but neither of those things are going to end up hurting them because I already have a plan to make things right"…or something.

**Jason:** Sheesh you two are such nerds

**Masaka**: I'm an English major, not a nerd and I happen to really like Milton! The dude himself was sort of…well, prideful, but he did do good-work!!

**Yami Masaka:** Besides which Darrin is the sort of weirdo who would go around quoting that. And we knew that Milton had a perfect passage for this situation. We could have put something from Songs or Corinthians in there but I doubt we could have found something quite as affirming

**Masaka: **Though that 'love if not proud' thing might have worked in there somehow…but much weirder and not as foreshadowing of what's going to come next

**Jason: *unimpressedly picking his nose* **Yah, okay, I'll buy that, but what's with the letter from Nakagato? I thought Nizuki and Nero were getting new missions, not him

**Yami Masaka:** Same boss, different departments Jason

**Jason: **Hmmph. Well okay then what about that other-Nizuki showing up? How did THAT work out?

**Yami Masaka: *evil grin of one who knows all the author's secrets*** Oh I'm sooorry that isn't information that will be made available until the seeeequal

**Jason: **WHAT THE—!!WHY YOU--!! WHEN DID YOU--!! NO FAIR!!

**Masaka:** Now for that last asterisk clump, that was to inform you that I was messing with the Japanese semester schedule. There is no winter-break for Japanese students. Not that I know of anyway. Christmas isn't a big enough holiday for that.

**Yami Masaka:** New Years is however. And since we've already claimed Domino is a very multinational super mixtastic city, we'll just say that the local school caved into pressure to include more holidays in its vacation time so the Domino High Schoolers ended up with an atypical break

**Jason:** Speaking of you'll notice that Harrison is all hearts-and-sparkles now…or at least he strikes fear into the hearts of high-and-might TEACHERS instead of poor students…at least that is what I presume will happen but since I don't know anything about this supposed sequel-

**Masaka: **And you won't hear anything because I'm still trying to narrow down all what goes into a second Heavenly Interventions story. You and other-me decided on the name Mortal Interventions but that is as far as you went!

**Jason:** NOT FAAAAAAIR!!!

**Yami Masaka:** We'll see you all in the final wrap-up chapter and hopefully in the sequel but until then

**All:** Thanks for the laughs folk, hope you enjoyed the show!!


End file.
